Britain Must Keep Its Promise to Hong Kongers
The UK has a moral obligation and an economic interest in safeguarding the path to citizenship for migrants from the territory it formerly ruled.
Britain has a moral obligation and an economic interest in keeping its promise to Hong Kong migrants.
Photographer: Anthony Kwan/Getty Images AsiaPacThe attendance of more than 100,000 people at a weekend London rally called by the far-right agitator Tommy Robinson underlines the urgency for the UK’s Labour government to demonstrate progress in bringing immigration under control. The danger is that blunt measures designed to show toughness will cause collateral damage — not only in humanitarian terms, but to Britain’s wider economic and strategic interests. That risk applies particularly to migrants from Hong Kong.
In May, the government released a policy paper that proposed doubling the standard qualifying period for settlement to 10 years. Typically, visa holders can apply for citizenship one year after gaining “indefinite leave to remain” — permanent residency — status; so the current six-year pathway would lengthen to 11 years. Officials haven’t clarified whether the proposed changes, which are subject to a forthcoming consultation, will apply to Hong Kong migrants arriving under the British National (Overseas) visa program. That uncertainty is causing considerable anxiety among the more than 160,000 people who have moved to the UK from the former British-administered territory via the BNO visa route since 2021.