Hongkongers with BN(O) passports could get British citizenship if Beijing imposes national security law, Dominic Raab says SCMP 20200528

【縛雞之見】

香港律政司司長鄭若驊周五接受BBC中文採訪時說：「從頭到尾，國家安全都是中央的事情，從來不是香港自治範圍的事。人大常委會立法，是合情合理合憲。」

對於英國將放寬香港的英國國民海外護照（BNO）持有人簽證逗留期限，她與北京立場並不一致，她認為英國有權力就BNO政策決定其做法。中國外交部此前表示，英方的做法「違背承諾」和「違反國際法」。https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/trad/chinese-news-52865816

 The UK’s granting Hongkongers who hold the passport of the British National Overseas citizenship is not true, at least for now.

 

A practical scenario for the UK is granting them a one-year trip right among others, which caused fury from Beijing. 

 

But if the UK does grant citizenship, then there are three hundred thousand UK citizens overnight, besides the 33-thousand UK citizens today, which will be a vital problem to the UK because the latter has a legal responsibility to protect a huge number of the refugees.

 

 

Hongkongers with BN(O) passports could get British citizenship if Beijing imposes national security law, Dominic Raab says    SCMP 20200528

• 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

 

Hongkongers with BN(O) passports will be able to obtain British citizenship if China enforces the national security laws in the city, the British government announced on Thursday, marking a dramatic shift to London’s long-held policy.

 

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.

 

“Deeply concerned at China’s proposals for legislation related to national security in Hong Kong,” the home secretary, who is responsible for immigration issues, wrote on Twitter. “If imposed, @DominicRaab & I will explore options for a path to citizenship for BNO passport holders.”

 

Johnny Patterson, director of the London-based Hong Kong Watch group, said the British government should be prepared to take more action for Hongkongers.

 

“If things deteriorate further, the UK will need to consider extending the scheme beyond 12 months, up to and including right of abode, and encourage other international partners to create a lifeboat scheme to ensure all Hongkongers, including those born after 1997, have a lifeline,” Patterson said.

 

The change in British policy came a day after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared that Hong Kong no longer enjoyed a high degree of autonomy as promised by Beijing.

 

Until now, Britain – plagued by an anti-immigrant sentiment that led to the referendum that resulted in Brexit – was reluctant to grant BN(O) holders full citizenship.

 

Hongkongers now living in Britain said they saw several “devils in the detail” from Raab's statement.

 

Apart from not applying to those born after the handover – which makes up a sizeable portion of frontline protesters in Hong Kong – Raab’s assurance also falls short of an immediate recognition of citizenship.

 

It appears that the British government is reluctant to offer guarantees of an indefinite right to stay, with details lacking on the conditions for the yearly renewals, such as whether the applicant would need to meet a financial threshold.

 

It is also unclear how long a BN(O) holder would need to stay in order to start the citizenship application process.

 

The fact that the Conservative Party controls the majority of the House of Commons makes it likely that a bill changing BN(O) status will win sufficient support.

 

“This is a fantastic news and a great credit to” Raab and Patel, said Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Parliament’s foreign affairs committee. “Some of us have been calling for it for a while. Now we need to go further and recognise the full rights of British nationals.”