Thousands of Hong Kongers have already made the sometimes painful decision to flee the city and relocate to Britain since Beijing introduced a strict national security law in their hometown last week. Their numbers are expected to rise to hundreds of thousands.
Some are leaving because they fear punishment for supporting the pro-democracy protests that swept the former British colony in 2019. Others say that the encroachment on the mainland of China on their way of life and civil liberties has become unbearable, and they want to seek a better future for their children abroad. Most say they never plan to go back.
The moves are expected to accelerate now that 5 million Hong Kongers are eligible to apply for visas for Britain, enabling them to live, work and study there and eventually apply to become British citizens. The UK national overseas visa officially opened on Sunday, although many have already arrived on British soil to gain a head start.
The British government has said that about 7,000 people with British national overseas passports – a travel document that Hong Kongers can apply for before the city was returned to China in 1997 – have arrived on the previously allowed six-month visa since July. It is estimated that more than 300 000 people will accept the offer of extended right of residence in the next five years.
“Prior to the announcement of the BNO visa in July, we did not have many inquiries about immigration in the UK, perhaps less than ten a month,” said Andrew Lo, founder of Anlex Immigration Consultants in Hong Kong. “Now we get about 10 to 15 calls a day and ask for it.”
Mike, a photojournalist who asked that only his first name be used for fear of official retaliation, said he planned to apply for the visa and travel with his wife and young daughter to Leeds, in the north, in April of England, to move.
His motivation to leave Hong Kong comes after the city’s political situation deteriorated after the protest against the government and he realized that the police force in the city was not politically neutral. Police have been criticized by pro-democracy supporters for brutality and the use of excessive force.
Mike said it was important to move to Britain because he believed that the education system in Hong Kong was affected by the political situation and that it would be better for his daughter to study in the UK.
Lo said that with the new visa, the barrier to entry to move to Britain has become extremely low, with no language or education qualifications. According to the British government, British national overseas passport holders only need to prove that they have enough money to support themselves for six months and that they are not suffering from tuberculosis.
Currently, Lo helps three to four families a week in their move to the UK About 60% of these are families with young children, and the rest are young couples or young professionals.
Cindy, a businesswoman who also asked to be identified only by her first name, arrived in London last week.
In Hong Kong, the mother of two young children had a comfortable lifestyle. She owned several properties with her husband, and the business she ran went well. But she decided to leave it all behind because she felt that the city’s freedoms and liberties were being eroded and she wanted to ensure a good future for her children.
She said it was important to move quickly because she was afraid that Beijing would soon move to stop the exodus.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said this week that the visa application shows that Britain respects its “deep ties of history” with Hong Kong, which was handed over to China in 1997 on the understanding that the government in Beijing would retain the city’s democratic freedoms. and much of its political autonomy for 50 years.
Beijing said on Friday that it would no longer recognize the British National Overseas passport as a travel document or form of identification and criticized the British citizenship offer as a step that would seriously infringe on China’s sovereignty. It was unclear what effect the announcement would have because many Hong Kongers have multiple passports.
Beijing has drastically hardened its stance on Hong Kong after the protests turned violent in 2019 and plunged the city into a month-long crisis. Since the introduction of the security law last summer, dozens of pro-democracy activists have been arrested, and the young leaders of the movement have been jailed or fled abroad.
Because the new law broadly defines acts of undermining, secession, conspiracy and terrorism, many in Hong Kong fear that the expression of any form of political opposition – even posting on social media – could get them into trouble.
‘It’s really a unique wave of emigration – some people have not had time to visit the country they are moving to. Many have no experience living abroad, ”says Miriam Lo, who runs Excelsior UK, a relocation agency. “And because of the pandemic, they could not even look at a house until they decided to buy it.”