Hongkongers with BN(O) passports could get British citizenship if Beijing imposes national security law, Dominic Raab says
- About 300,000 people hold the passports, which were issued to Hongkongers born before the 1997 handover
- Six-month limit for UK visits to be revoked, work and study will be allowed and a pathway to citizenship will be added, British foreign secretary says
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and Home Secretary Priti Patel made the move on the day China’s top legislature, the National People’s Congress, announced the decision to impose national security legislation on the former British colony.
British National (Overseas) passports were issued to Hongkongers born before the 1997 handover, and under current rules, passport holders can visit the UK for up for six months but cannot work or apply for citizenship. As of December, 300,000 Hongkongers held a BN(O) passport.
Raab said Britain was now ready to change this rule.
“If China continues down this path and implements this national security legislation we will change that status, and we will remove that six-month limit and allow those BN(O) passport holders to come to the UK and to apply to work and study for extendable periods of 12 months, and that would itself provide a pathway to future citizenship,” Raab told reporters.
“In the meantime we urge China to step back from the brink and live up to its responsibilities as a leading member of the international community,” he added.
Raab’s plan was echoed by Patel, who was understood to have been more supportive in the past of BN(O)-holding Hongkongers than Raab.