Hong Kong democracy campaigners are pressing the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office to spell out how British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s “vague and imprecise commitment” will give a path to British citizenship to millions of residents.
It came as Johnson wrote to seven former British foreign secretaries saying that he is trying to build a global groundswell of opposition to Chinese plans to impose a new security law in Hong Kong.
Johnson said he is “working with a host of international grouping from the G7 and beyond to impress on them the gravity of the situation.”
Photo: AFP
However, he said the UK could provide a lead without needing to form an international contact group, similar to that established during the Balkans crisis in the 1990s, as the seven former secretaries had suggested.
Two weeks ago Johnson responded to China’s plans by saying that he was prepared to give extendable visas to millions of Hong Kong residents entitled to hold a British national overseas (BNO) passport.
It is thought there are 350,000 BNO passport holders, but a further 2 million are eligible to apply. BNO status is not available to those born after July 1, 1997, the point of Hong Kong’s handover to China.
In the most explicit aspect of the offer, the British government said those eligible for BNO status would have their visa-free entry period for the UK extended from six to 12 months.
This might provide a pathway to citizenship, it added.
They would have the ability to apply to work and study.
However, some Hong Kong campaigners are becoming alarmed at the lack of detail, fearing Johnson might be willing to give only the impression of a generous offer partly to deter China from pressing ahead with its security crackdown.
China has angrily objected to the offer, seeing it as interference in another country’s internal affairs.
A briefing for Hong Kong Watch, a British non-governmental organization that promotes human rights in the territory, prepared by immigration lawyers, expressed concern that the UK offer might be severely circumscribed, and what has been offered so far is “vague and imprecise.”
“It is important now that proper attention is paid to the details so that the proposed changes to the immigration rules provide the lifeline that BNOs, and Hong Kongers, need,” the briefing said.
It expressed concerns that the British Home Office could severely limit the offer by placing stringent financial requirements on those seeking entrance, or by limiting BNO passport holders access to public funds.
There is also doubt as to whether BNO passport holders seeking to continue in higher education would have to pay international student fees, rather than the much lower home students fee.
The briefing also said that the government has not been clear on the rights of dependants.
British Secretary of Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Dominic Raab has simply told the shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy in a written answer that he would consider the issue of BNO passport holders’ dependants.
Alistair Carmichael, the Liberal Democrats foreign affairs spokesperson and chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Hong Kong, said: “We need to hear in detail, and with urgency, exactly what the government mean when they say that they will provide a ‘pathway to citizenship’ for British national [overseas] passport holders.”
“Will the government guarantee swift, easy passage for Hong Kongers in need of a lifeline? What will the measures mean for young people born after 1997, vulnerable to a crackdown from Beijing? Clarity is urgently needed,” Carmichael said.
The report also asks how long BNO status holders would have to be continuously resident in the UK before being eligible to apply for indefinite leave to remain (ILR).
For example, if a BNO status holder is in the UK as a student under tier 4, there is no direct route to ILR and the BNO status holder student would require 10 years’ continuous residence before one might be eligible for ILR.
There is also concern that the proposals exclude young people, specifically those born after 1997, even though they are more likely than any group to be the target of Chinese government repression, since they have been most active in the demonstrations against Chinese rule.
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