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A Hong Kong protester holds up a BN(O) passport while another waves the British colonial flag, during a demonstration at a mall in the city’s Central business district on May 29. Photo: Winson Wong
OpinionLetters

Letters | China’s national security law: if Boris Johnson is really concerned, why not offer automatic UK citizenship to BN(O) Hongkongers?

  • The British prime minister’s offer to Hong Kong residents is less generous than it sounds
  • Britain has granted automatic citizenship to residents of the Falklands and 12 other British Dependent Territories, but not Hong Kong
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In his op-ed published by the Post on June 3, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson made a heroic pledge that Britain would not walk away from its obligations to Hong Kong (“Britain to offer alternative for Hongkongers fearing for their way of life”).
Improving on the offer made by Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on May 28 to extend the visa-free stay of BN(O) passport holders to 12 months, Johnson said that, if China imposes its national security law on Hong Kong, Britain would change its immigration rules to allow BN(O) passport holders to go to Britain for work, which would provide a pathway to citizenship.
Johnson’s offer is far less generous than it sounds. Under Britain’s immigration rules, a BN(O) passport holder admitted for work will need to satisfy the continuous ordinary residence requirement for five years (without being absent for more than six months in any year) to acquire “settled” status. A person who has acquired “settled” status will have to wait another 12 months before qualifying for British citizenship. During that time, that person needs to have the means to support himself or herself in Britain, and pay British tax.

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Boris Johnson vows to change visa system for Hongkongers under national security law

Boris Johnson vows to change visa system for Hongkongers under national security law

The British government could be more generous in meeting its obligations to Hong Kong by offering automatic British citizenship without the residential requirement, as it had done in the case of residents of the Falklands in 1983, and of those in the last remaining 12 British Dependent Territories in 2002.

In both cases, Britain enacted new nationality legislation to grant citizenship to its Dependent Territories citizens.

The British Overseas Territories Act was enacted five years after Hong Kong had reverted to China. In my opinion, that was clearly a well-planned and calculated move to avoid granting similar citizenship rights to former British Dependent Territories citizens in Hong Kong, partly because of the large numbers of Hong Kong immigrants potentially involved and partly because of race.

Welcome to Britain? Big questions in UK’s plan for Hong Kong’s BN(O) holders

If Johnson and his fellow custodians of rights and freedoms truly want to protect BN(O) passport holders from alleged Chinese oppression, why not grant them automatic citizenship?

And if Britain is debarred by its exchange of memorandums on nationality with China in 1984 from doing so, why raise false hopes?

Regina Ip, member, Executive Council; Legislative Council; c/o Chief Executive’s Office, Tamar

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