Following a high-level strategic dialogue between the United States and China that both sides described as “difficult” and “deeply divisive,” British Prime Minister Johnson held a video conversation with some Hong Kong residents who have emigrated through British National (Overseas) (BNO) status, saying the plan reflects He said the program reflects Britain’s moral commitment to the people of Hong Kong whose freedoms and rights are constrained, and his belief that Britain has a future for them. The U.S.-China dialogue has addressed China’s crackdown on Hong Kong, and the U.K.’s BNO immigration program gives Hong Kong people a way to leave a human rights-oppressed Hong Kong, for which China has criticized the U.K.
Beijing‘s National Security Law for Hong Kong was implemented in the middle of last year, and the U.K. said the law was in violation of the Sino-British Joint Declaration. The BNO passport was issued to local Hong Kong people before the return of Hong Kong to China, when it was stipulated that BNO holders did not have the status of residence in the UK, but could enter the UK for six months without a visa. Under the new scheme, more than half of Hong Kong people will be eligible to apply.
According to the press release, Johnson’s speech was also full of insinuations about China’s crackdown on human rights in Hong Kong. He first spoke to the four families who arrived in the UK last year under the BNO scheme about their reasons for leaving Hong Kong, their experiences in the UK, and then told the families that he was proud they had chosen the UK. He went on to say that the country has a long and proud history of embracing people who have left their homes to come to the UK in search of rights and freedoms, and he was proud that the UK was able to provide a pathway for BNO Hong Kong people to come to the UK, noting that the visa scheme reflects the UK’s historical and moral commitment to Hong Kong people whose rights and freedoms are restricted.
Since the implementation of the National Security Law in Hong Kong, the UK first introduced the alternative route to leave (Leave Outside the Rules – LOTR for short) to allow BNO passport holders to work in the UK for six months after arrival; after five years of residence, they can apply for naturalization in the UK. At the end of last year, the UK further relaxed the scheme to allow people who do not have BNO passports but are eligible to apply in Hong Kong to move their entire Family to the UK. The Home Office estimates that 123,000 to 153,000 BNO families will apply in the first year of the scheme, and within five years, between 258,000 and 322,000 families will apply.
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