There is no guarantee that Hongkongers will be granted permanent residency visas in Australia, acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge said on Sunday. Tudge's comments come days after Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australia was suspending its extradition agreement with Hong Kong amid concerns about the new national security law imposed on the territory by Beijing. Tudge told national broadcaster ABC that Australia could not guarantee residency for those who feared returning to Hong Kong. “What we are saying is that people will have the opportunity to apply for permanent residency, but I mean, if there's a serious security issue in relation to that person, they'll be sent back," Tudge told ABC's Insiders show. “If there's a character concern, they'll be sent back." In order to obtain permanent residency, applicants would still have to pass “the character test, the national security test and the like,” Tudge said. “It’s not automatic.” He said thousands of Hong Kong citizens in Australia on student or work visas had been offered extensions of up to five years. An estimated 10,500 students and 1,500 workers from Hong Kong are in Australia. They can apply for refugee settlement if they can prove they face persecution if they return to Hong Kong. Tudge said 137 had already applied for asylum. Morrison said Thursday that Hongkongers who fear persecution at home could be offered safe haven visas and “a pathway to permanent residency" in Australia. The move comes after China bypassed Hong Kong’s Legislative Council to impose the sweeping security legislation without public consultation. Critics view it as a further deterioration of freedoms promised to the former British colony, in response to last year’s massive protests calling for greater democracy and more police accountability. Hong Kong national security law official English version The national security law prohibits what Beijing views as secessionist, subversive or terrorist activities or as foreign intervention in Hong Kong affairs. Under the law, police now have sweeping powers to conduct searches without warrants and order internet service providers and platforms to remove messages deemed to be in violation of the legislation. China’s Foreign Ministry said it reserved the right to “take further actions” in response to moves by Canberra. “The consequences will be fully borne by Australia,” spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters at a daily briefing on Thursday. Additional reporting by Associated Press