Thousands of Hong Kongers have made the sometimes painful decision to flee the city and move to Britain since Beijing imposed strict national security laws on their hometowns last summer. Their number is expected to increase to hundreds of thousands.
Some are leaving because they fear punishment for supporting the pro-democracy protests that engulfed the former British colony in 2019. Others say that the encroachment on their way of life and civil liberties in mainland China has become unbearable, and they want to look for a better future for their children abroad. Most say they have no intention of ever going back.
The move is expected to accelerate now that 5 million Hong Kongers are eligible to apply for visas to Britain, allowing them to live, work and study there and ultimately apply to become a British citizen. Applications for the British National Overseas Visa officially opened on Sunday, although many have already arrived on UK soil to get a head start.
The British government said that since July, some 7,000 people with a British overseas national passport – a travel document that Hong Kongers could apply for before the city was returned to China in 1997 – have arrived since July on the previously permitted six-month visa. It estimates that over 300,000 people will accept the offer of extended residency rights over the next five years.
“Before the announcement of the BNO visa in July, we didn’t have many questions about UK immigration, maybe less than 10 a month,” said Andrew Lo, founder of Anlex Immigration Consultants in Hong Kong. “Now we get about 10 to 15 calls a day asking about it.”
Mike, a photojournalist who asked to use only his first name for fear of official reprisals, said he plans to apply for the visa and move with his wife and young daughter to Leeds, in the north of England, in April.
His motivation to leave Hong Kong came after the city’s political situation deteriorated after the anti-government protests, and he realized that the city’s police were not politically neutral. The police have been criticized by pro-democracy supporters for cruelty and the use of excessive force.
Mike said moving to the UK was important as he believed that the education system in Hong Kong would be affected by the political situation and 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 and no language or educational qualifications are required. British Overseas National passport holders only need to prove that they have enough money to support themselves for six months and that they are free from tuberculosis, the British government said.
Lo currently helps three to four families a week 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 by her first name only, arrived in London last week.
In Hong Kong, the mother of two young children lived a comfortable lifestyle. She owned several properties with her husband, and the business she ran was doing well. But she decided to leave it all behind, feeling that the freedoms and freedoms of the city were crumbling and she wanted to ensure a good future for her children.
She said it was important to act quickly as she feared Beijing would move quickly to stop the exodus.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said this week that the visa offer showed Britain respects its “deep history” with Hong Kong, which was handed over to China in 1997 on the understanding that the Beijing government would preserve 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 overseas national passport as a travel document or a form of identification and criticized the British citizenship offer as a move that “seriously infringed” China’s sovereignty. It was unclear what effect the announcement would have, as many Hong Kongers carry multiple passports.
Beijing has drastically hardened its stance on Hong Kong after the 2019 protests turned violent and plunged the city into a months-long crisis. Since the security bill came into effect last summer, dozens of pro-democracy activists have been arrested and the young leaders of the movement have either been imprisoned or fled abroad.
Because the new law broadly defines acts of subversion, secession, foreign collusion and terrorism, many in Hong Kong fear that expressing any form of political opposition – even posting on social media – could get them in trouble .
“This is a truly unique wave of emigration: some people have not had time to actually visit the country they are moving to. Many have no experience living abroad, ”said Miriam Lo, who heads Excelsior UK, a relocation agency. “And because of the pandemic, they couldn’t even come over to see a house before they decided to buy.”