Hong Kong ex-residents look back on former home more than a year since launch of BN(O) scheme, share stories of strained ties, bittersweet feeling

Families recall how they left loved ones behind last year and how they maintain old relationships while forging new ones in adopted home

Hongkongers who have had their visas approve number 97,057 since the scheme launched on January 31 last year

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Published: 8:00am, 21 Mar 2022Updated: 9:54am, 22 Mar 2022

More than 100,000 Hongkongers are seeking new lives in Britain under a special scheme that promises citizenship for many residents of the former colony. The departures, which follow in the wake of a deep shift in the city’s political landscape, have broken apart extended families, reshaped careers and changed ideas about education. In the first of a three-part series, the immigrants tell the Post about the difficulty of leaving loved ones behind.

Ivy Cheung has yet to resolve a rift with her mother, whom she left behind in Hong Kong after the family took the momentous step of moving to Britain last August.

Her mother could not understand why her daughter, 53, and her son-in-law were willing to uproot their two sons for a life in Manchester. But Cheung, as one of millions of Hongkongers entitled to a special citizenship path under the British National (Overseas) visa scheme, was adamant on going.

Hong Kong no longer resembled the place that welcomed her as a young immigrant from mainland China, she argued. The national security law that Beijing imposed in June 2020 following a year of anti-government protests was only the precursor of wider political shifts, and she feared for her sons’ future, Cheung said.

Ivy Cheung, a Hongkonger, left for Britain last year. Photo: Handout

“One of our big concerns was I worried about my boys, because I don’t know what the red line set by the Hong Kong government is,” she said.

While she and her mother still speak on the phone, their relationship is strained.

SCMP Series

The Hongkongers seeking new lives in Britain on BN(O) scheme

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