Hong Kong activists urge UK to spell out extended visa offer
Hong Kong democracy campaigners are pressing the Foreign Office to spell out how Boris Johnson’s “vague and imprecise commitment” will give a path to British citizenship to millions of residents.
It came as Johnson wrote to seven former UK foreign secretaries saying he is trying to build a global groundswell of opposition to Chinese plans to impose a new security law in Hong Kong.
Johnson said he is “working with a host of international grouping from the G7 and beyond to impress on them the gravity of the situation”. However, he said Britain could provide a lead without needing to form an international contact group, similar to that established during the Balkans crisis in the 1990s, as the seven former foreign secretaries had suggested.
A fortnight ago Johnson responded to China’s plans by saying he was prepared to give extendable visas to millions of Hong Kong citizens entitled to hold a British national (overseas) passport. It is thought there are 350,000 BNO passport holders but a further 2 million are eligible to apply. BNO status is not available to those born after 1 July 1997, the point of Hong Kong’s handover to China. In the most explicit aspect of the offer, the government said those eligible for BNO status will have their visa-free entry period for the UK extended from six to 12 months. This might provide a pathway to citizenship, it added. They will have the ability to apply to work and study.
But some Hong Kong campaigners are becoming alarmed at the lack of detail, fearing Johnson may be willing to give only the impression of a generous offer partly to deter China from pressing ahead with its security crackdown. China has angrily objected to the offer, seeing it as interference in another country’s internal affairs.
A briefing for Hong Kong Watch, a UK NGO that promotes human rights in the territory, prepared by immigration lawyers, expressed concern the UK offer may be severely circumscribed, and what has been offered so far is
“vague and imprecise”.
The briefing said: “It is important now that proper attention is paid to the details so that the proposed changes to the immigration rules provide the lifeline that BNOs, and Hongkongers, need.”
The briefing expressed concerns the Home Office could severely limit the offer by placing stringent financial requirements on those seeking entrance, or by limiting BNO passport holders access to public funds. There is also doubt as to whether BNO passport holders seeking to continue in higher education will have to pay international student fees, rather than the much lower home students fee.
The briefing also points out that the government has not been clear on the rights of dependants. The foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has simply told the shadow foreign secretary, Lisa Nandy, in a written answer that he will consider the issue of BNO passport holders’ dependants.
Alistair Carmichael, the Liberal Democrats foreign affairs spokesperson and chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Hong Kong, said: “We need to hear in detail, and with urgency, exactly what the government mean when they say that they will provide a ‘pathway to citizenship’ for British national (overseas) passport holders.“Will the government guarantee swift, easy passage for Hongkongers in need of a lifeline? What will the measures mean for young people born after 1997, vulnerable to a crackdown from Beijing? Clarity is urgently needed.”The report also asks how long BNO status holders will have to be continuously resident in the UK before being eligible to apply for indefinite leave to remain. Currently, for example, if a BNO status holder is in the UK as a student under tier 4, there is no direct route to ILR, and the BNO status holder student would require 10 years’ continuous residence before one might be eligible for ILR.
There is also concern that the proposals exclude young people, specifically those born after 1997, even though they are more likely than any group to be the target of Chinese government repression since they have been most active in the demonstrations against Chinese rule.
Carmichael said: “We need to hear in detail, and with urgency, exactly what the Government mean when they say that they will provide a “pathway to citizenship” for British national (overseas) passport holders.“Will the government guarantee swift, easy passage for Hongkongers in need of a lifeline? What will the measures mean for young people born after 1997, vulnerable to a crackdown from Beijing? Clarity is urgently needed.”