A brand new visa scheme providing tens of millions of Hong Kong residents a pathway to British citizenship went dwell on Sunday because the UK opened its doorways to these wanting to flee China’s crackdown on dissent.
From late Sunday afternoon, anybody with a British nationwide abroad (BNO) passport and their dependents can apply on-line for a visa permitting them to dwell and work within the UK. After 5 years they will then apply for citizenship.
The immigration scheme is a response to Beijing’s resolution final 12 months to impose a sweeping nationwide safety legislation on Hong Kong to snuff out enormous and infrequently violent pro-democracy protests.
Whereas many Hongkongers are involved concerning the lack of political freedom at dwelling some are additionally involved about what they are going to discover overseas within the UK from Covid-19 lockdowns to damp and darkish winters.
Chatting with the South China Morning Submit, two households planning to to migrate expressed concern about how one can discover a job within the UK’s Covid-hit economic system and have been debating whether or not or not one father or mother ought to keep behind in Hong Kong to maintain working.
One nameless father informed the newspaper he had already bought his flat and would work for Uber if wanted to assist his household on their arrival to the UK, the newspaper mentioned.
“I gained’t keep behind on my own,” he informed the newspaper. “It’s essential that each one of us are collectively.”
One other Hongkonger who had already relocated to the UK on a separate scheme informed the newspaper how his job provide at a restaurant fizzled out within the autumn when the nation went into lockdown.
Others issues included the prospect of crime – in distinction to Hong Kong’s protected streets – and Britain’s weather.
These and different crowdsourced matters resembling the place to purchase an inexpensive home and the UK’s Covid mortality charge are actually below dialogue on Telegram teams, on an app that after performed a vital function conserving protests organised throughout the metropolis’s mass democracy protests.
Nonetheless, this is not going to be the primary time for Hongkongers to pack up for the UK. After the second world struggle, 1000’s of principally rural Hongkongers used their BNO standing to maneuver to Britain – emptying out total villages within the New Territories.
This migration, nonetheless, of BNO-holders will likely be considerably completely different given Hong Kong’s excessive tertiary training charge and appreciable wealth. One Financial institution of America report has predicted that an exodus of Hongkongers to the UK may result in a US$36 bn (£26.67bn) outflow.
Many Hongkongers, nonetheless, will most likely wait till 23 February to use – the day the UK releases its smartphone app model of the applying, preferring to not visibly queue exterior the UK’s two visa workplaces amid restrictions on public gatherings.
China has reacted with fury to the visa provide and introduced on Friday BNO passports would now not be recognised as a reliable journey or ID doc.
However Beijing mentioned it was ready to take “additional measures”, elevating fears authorities may attempt to cease Hongkongers from leaving for Britain.
Hong Kong’s authorities adopted swimsuit this weekend and introduced that BNO passports may now not be used at immigration or as proof of id.
The transfer to ban the BNO passport, nonetheless, was largely symbolic as most Hongkongers favor to make use of a smartcard ID or their very own passport to depart town.
Not too long ago, the BNO passport has turn out to be one of many few methods out for Hongkongers hoping to start out a brand new life abroad as authorities conduct mass arrests in opposition to democracy supporters and transfer to purge the stressed metropolis of dissenting views.
Between BNO holders and their eligible relations, about 5.2 million individuals – or almost 70% of town’s inhabitants – may take part within the scheme. The UK expects as much as 153,000 arrivals within the first 12 months.
Functions skyrocketed greater than 300% for the reason that nationwide safety legislation was imposed final July, with 733,000 registered holders as of mid-January.
Nonetheless, Hong Kong’s chief, Carrie Lam – a former colonial civil servant whose husband and kids have UK citizenship – has tried to downplay the potential for a mass exodus.
“I simply don’t see how 2.98 million Hong Kong individuals would love to maneuver to the UK,” she informed Bloomberg throughout a dwell interview on Friday. “However let me make it very clear that I respect individuals’s alternative wherever they need to go to dwell, to work, to boost a household. That’s their particular person alternative.”
Agence France-Presse and Related Press contributed to this report