MORE than two million people who are eligible to travel on Hong Kong-British passports after the handover have yet to apply, with the deadline at the end of the month.
The Immigration Department is bracing for a last-minute flood of applications to become British Dependent Territories citizens.
Those eligible must reach this stage of naturalisation if they wish to travel on a British National (Overseas) (BNO) passport after 1997. The 2.2 million either hold Certificates of Identity or no travel document.
The BNO passport has visa-free access to about 80 countries. Many remain concerned as to whether the future Special Administrative Region passport will receive similar privileges.
Figures to March 7 show about 25,000 people have applied to become naturalised this year, compared with 34,580 for the whole of last year.
Officers have been receiving up to 1,000 applications per day this month.