What is a British National (Overseas) passport and what is a holder entitled to?

With its burgundy cover and coat of arms, the British National (Overseas) passport might look just like a full British passport – but don’t judge a book by its cover: BN(O) status is more complicated.

The BN(O) document has proved a political hot potato. Revelations in July that Britain exerted pressure on Portugal not to grant full citizenship to Macau residents – in an attempt to dissuade Hong Kong people from demanding the same rights for BN(O) holders – prompted concern groups to describe those efforts as “shameful”.

Craig Choy Ki of the Progressive Lawyers Group said: “The BN(O) is the last nail in the coffin to deny full citizenship of the United Kingdom to Hongkongers, which was consistent with the UK’s policy towards its former colonies.

“The BN(O) issue is another Windrush scandal for me,” Choy added, referring to the ongoing, highly controversial case of Britons being wrongly detained, and in some cases wrongly deported, under a government policy intended to reduce illegal immigration.

1. What is a BN(O) passport?

The BN(O) was first issued in 1987, 10 years before the return of sovereignty over Hong Kong from Britain to China. The document replaced the British Dependent Territories citizens passport. You could register for a BN(O) passport right up until June 30, 1997. After the handover on July 1, 1997, permanent Hong Kong residents who were also Chinese nationals became eligible for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passport.

Despite the availability of the new HKSAR passport, the BN(O) document remains popular. As recently as 2015, 26,027 people renewed their BN(O) passport in a single year. However, the figure dropped to 19,741 last year, and while this was considerably more than the 8,039 handed out in 2010, it was a far cry from the 139,159 in 2001.