VANDANA Rajwani is gifted, bright and articulate. A law graduate, she is about to officially begin her career in the chambers of a leading Hong Kong barrister. The affable, ambitious 24-year old is the sort of woman who would be welcomed by any reasonable company, community or country.
But Ms Rajwani, who only a few years ago saw a future full of promise, doesn't feel particularly welcome anywhere anymore. Two months ago, she received a letter from the Immigration Department, turning down her application for right of abode in the United Kingdom. No explanation was given - just a terse note stating 'the Governor has decided not to recommend you' for British citizenship.
The letter ended a year of waiting in hope. Under the British Nationality Selection Scheme, Ms Rajwani was reasonably optimistic: she had obtained her degree in law and politics in England, had worked in the country, English was her mother tongue and she was a consistent high-achiever.
But it wasn't until the rejection arrived that Ms Rajwani realised that time is running out for her.
'I feel like I have only two years to do the best that I can do. Who is to say how the Chinese will treat people like me after 1997? I thought if I could have a British passport, I would have some security. I was born here and consider myself British. Doesn't that count for anything?' Evidently not. Hong Kong's minority groups with no travel document other than a British Dependent Territories Citizen (BDTC) or a British National (Overseas) (BNO) passport are among those to be most critically affected by the takeover. They are entitled to neither Chinese nor British nationality. The BDTC will cease to exist on June 30, 1997 and the future status of the BNO is still unclear: it does not guarantee the holder the right to enter Britain much less live and work there. They will have no nationality, no guaranteed right of abode anywhere, and they can only remain in Hong Kong as long as the Chinese allow them to. Unless they have made other provisions, they will have nowhere to go.
When the BNSS was launched - under duress from Hong Kong - in 1990, this group of minorities was confident: surely, they reasoned, the British government would be sympathetic. This was a unique situation, unprecedented in the history of the British Empire: minorities had proven their contribution and dedication to Hong Kong, the place they called home. They would, of course, be treated with compassion.