Opinion | Worried about your MPF account? Blame the British for BN(O) confusion
- Confusion among BN(O) passport holders is a direct result of the UK’s decisions about what constitutes British nationality and who is entitled to it
- The undeniable truth is that the British government could solve the problem at a stroke by converting all the BN(O) cases to full British nationality
More than 30 years ago, two European countries with a history as colonial powers were planning their departure from Asia. A discussion of the different approaches they adopted would normally be of interest only to historians, but some of the decisions by one of them are still having serious consequences today.
For example, the recent discussions over the ability of British National (Overseas) passport holders to claim their Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) savings early is a direct result of the United Kingdom’s decisions across many years about what constitutes British nationality and who is entitled to it.
Before leaving, as a mark of respect for their centuries in charge, Portugal offered a full Portuguese passport to Macau citizens who wanted one. This honourable gesture immediately produced some anomalies.
As citizens of a European Union member country, Macau citizens could go to live and work in the United Kingdom, and their children qualified for home student status and thus paid lower fees at British universities. Hong Kong “British” citizens, on the other hand, could not freely emigrate there, and their children had to pay the higher fees charged to foreign students.