Britain could give Hong Kong BN(O) passport holders right of abode, former top UK adviser says
- Former attorney general says the United Kingdom would not be breaching its agreement with China by changing the rules
- Only Britain decides what rights are extended to holders, Peter Goldsmith says
A former British attorney general says Hongkongers holding British National (Overseas) passports should be allowed to resettle in the United Kingdom, accusing the government of depriving them of full citizenship with misleading claims.
In a letter sent to Home Secretary Priti Patel, seen by the South China Morning Post, Peter Goldsmith QC said Britain would not be breaching the Sino-British Joint Declaration by changing the rules and granting this group of Hongkongers the right of abode.
As the main author in charge of a 2008 government review on citizenship, Goldsmith is the strongest legal voice to date in support of what would essentially be a path to full citizenship for hundreds of thousands of Hongkongers with a BN(O) passport.
The passport functions only as a travel document and does not grant the holder the automatic legal right to live or work in Britain. The Sino-British Joint Declaration signed on September 26, 1984, between the British and Chinese government set out the terms of Hong Kong’s return to Chinese sovereignty on July 1, 1997.
The political question about BN(O)s resurfaced last year during violent protests against the Hong Kong government’s extradition bill, when London came under international pressure to consider opening the doors to Hongkongers born before the colonial era came to an end in 1997.