New Immigration Proposition for BNO Citizens in Hong Kong

On Wednesday, 1 July 2020, Overseas Secretary Dominic Raab confirmed, in a assertion to Parliament about Hong Kong, a brand new bespoke U.Ok. immigration route for British Nationwide (Abroad) (BNO) residents and their dependants. BNO standing is a beforehand obscure type of British nationality held by an estimated 2.9 million folks in Hong Kong that, till now, didn’t enable for long-term residence in the UK.

This proposed route ought to enable eligible BNO residents to use for a five-year visa letting them reside, work and examine within the U.Ok. On the finish of the 5 years, the BNO visa holders might be eligible to use for indefinite go away to stay. They are going to additional be capable of apply for British citizenship after holding indefinite go away to stay standing for one 12 months. We suspect that this visa class might be just like the U.Ok. Ancestry visa which additionally provides a five-year path to indefinite go away to stay. The Ancestry visa is for sure commonwealth residents with a grandparent who was born within the U.Ok. The Ancestry visa permits these international nationals to reside, work and examine within the U.Ok. The primary distinction between the Ancestry visa and BNO standing is that BNOs with indefinite go away wouldn’t have to use to naturalise. As an alternative, they will register as British residents beneath Part four of the British Nationality Act 1981 utilizing Kind B(OTA). Nevertheless, non-BNO relations will nonetheless doubtless should naturalise as British residents.

BNO standing was an entitlement however was not computerized — it needed to be acquired by registration. For most individuals, the ultimate deadline for registration was 1 July 1997, although for some it was prolonged to 31 December 1997. Due to this fact, BNO standing solely belongs to a closed group of individuals. Anybody who missed the deadline for registration can not apply retroactively for such a nationality standing, even when they’d have been eligible to use for it at the moment. To qualify for BNO standing, an individual needed to be a British Dependent Territories citizen by reference to Hong Kong. Those that didn’t register for BNO standing and had no different nationality or citizenship on 30 June 1997 robotically grew to become British Abroad Residents on 1 July 1997.

It is very important word that not all Hong Kong nationals who need this standing essentially have it and this standing can’t be inherited or handed on. As such, lots of the younger protestors seen on information studies could have been born after 1997 and, if that is so, then they won’t be able to acquire BNO standing.

No precise modifications to immigration guidelines or citizenship laws have been introduced but. The U.Ok. authorities has mentioned that additional particulars of this new immigration route might be launched sooner or later. We can not predict how lengthy this may doubtless take to come back into impact. The Conservative Social gathering may have used its parliamentary majority to amend the British Nationality Act 1981 to permit BNO residents to skip the visa stage and easily register as British residents. Nevertheless, we suspect that the U.Ok. authorities will almost certainly implement this route with a Assertion of Adjustments to the immigration guidelines which can must be laid earlier than Parliament for approval earlier than this may turn into legislation. Due to this fact, it appears like it would take a while to implement.

The price of the visa is but to be introduced. Nevertheless, contemplating the charges for visas within the different classes, we suspect that it might be fairly pricey.

We’re in unsure instances with the world of Immigration and it’s changing into more and more advanced. As such, this latest announcement is a breath of contemporary air. There’ll unquestionably be extra modifications within the coming months and years with the brand new immigration system being launched in 2021.