Hong Kong, China:
A new visa scheme providing millions of Hong Kongers a pathway to British citizenship will go live later on Sunday as the city’s former colonial master opens its doors to these wanting to escape China’s crackdown on dissent.
From Sunday afternoon, any person with a British National (Overseas) passport and their dependents will be capable to apply on the net for a visa permitting them to live and work in the United Kingdom. After 5 years they can then apply for citizenship.
The immigration scheme is a response to Beijing’s choice final year to impose a sweeping national safety law on Hong Kong to snuff out substantial and typically violent democracy protests.
Britain has accused China of tearing up its guarantee ahead of Hong Kong’s 1997 handover that the monetary hub would sustain essential liberties and autonomy for 50 years. London argued it has a moral duty to guard its former colonial subjects.
“We have honoured our profound ties of history and friendship with the people of Hong Kong, and we have stood up for freedom and autonomy,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson stated of the scheme this week.
China has reacted with fury to the visa provide.
On Friday it announced BN(O) passports would no longer be recognised as a genuine travel or ID document.
The move was largely symbolic as Hong Kongers have a tendency to use their personal passports or ID cards to leave the city.
But Beijing stated it was ready to take “further measures”, raising fears authorities may well attempt to cease Hong Kongers from leaving for Britain.
– Applications soar –
It is not clear how a lot of Hong Kongers will take up the provide, specifically as the coronavirus restricts international flights and mires a great deal of the planet, like Britain, in a painful financial malaise.
But a BN(O) passport is offered to a substantial quantity of persons — about 70 % of Hong Kong’s 7.5 million population.
Applications for BN(O) passports have skyrocketed more than 300 % given that the national safety law was imposed final July, with 733,000 registered holders as of mid-January.
Britain predicts up to 154,000 Hong Kongers could arrive more than the next year and as a lot of as 322,000 more than 5 years, bringing an estimated “net benefit” of up to $4 billion.
The BN(O) passport is a legacy of Hong Kong’s return to authoritarian China.
Many Hong Kongers at the time wanted Britain to grant them complete citizenship but China was opposed to the move.
The BN(O) was a compromise, permitting Hong Kongers born ahead of 1997 the suitable to keep in Britain for six months at a time, but with no working or settling rights.
Now it has turn out to be one of the couple of strategies out for Hong Kongers hoping to begin a new life overseas as authorities conduct mass arrests against democracy supporters and move to purge the restless city of dissenting views.
– ‘A lifeboat’ –
Stella, a former advertising and marketing experienced, plans to move to Britain imminently with her husband and 3-year-old son.
“The national security law in 2020 gave us one last kick because the provisions are basically criminalising free speech,” she told AFP, asking to use just her 1st name.
Under the visa scheme, these hoping to move have to show they have adequate funds to sustain each themselves and their dependents for at least six months.
Hong Kongers currently in Britain who are involved in assisting other individuals relocate say a lot of of the early applicants have a tendency to be educated middle-class persons, typically with young households, who have adequate liquidity to finance their move.
“Most people we spoke with are families with primary school or nursery age kids,” Nic, an activist with a group known as Lion Rock Hill UK, told AFP, asking for anonymity.
Some Hong Kongers started leaving the city even ahead of the new scheme went live.
Earlier this week Britain stated about 7,000 persons moved more than the final six months beneath a separate Leave Outside the Rules (LOTR) technique. They will also be capable to apply for the pathway-to-citizenship visas.
“The BNO is definitely a lifeboat for Hong Kongers,” Mike, a healthcare scientist who not too long ago relocated with his household to the city of Manchester, told AFP.
He stated a lot of Hong Kongers feared China may well cease residents leaving the territory.
“So it is better to leave as soon as possible,” he added.
(This story has not been edited by TheSpuzz employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)