Britain opens visa scheme for millions of Hong Kong residents to become citizens

Britain has opened a visa scheme for Hong Kong residents to become citizenson Sunday after Beijing's imposition of the national security law in the Asian financial hub last year.

From Sunday afternoon, anyone with a British National (Overseas) passport and their dependents will be able to apply online for a visa allowing them to live and work in the United Kingdom. After five years they can then apply for citizenship.

The immigration scheme is a response to Beijing's decision last year to impose a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong to snuff out huge and often violent democracy protests.

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The move comes as China andHongKonghave said they will no longer recognise the British National Overseas (BNO) passport as a valid travel document from Sunday, January31.

Britain and China have been arguing for months about what London and Washington say is an attempt to silence dissent inHongKongafter pro-democracy protests in 2019 and 2020.

Britain says it is fulfilling a historic and moral commitment toHongKongpeople after Beijing imposed the security law on the semi-autonomous city that Britain says breaches the terms of agreements under which the colony was handed back to China in 1997.

"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 said of the scheme this week.

The UK government forecasts the new visa could attract more than 300,000 people and their dependents to Britain. Beijing said it would make them second-class citizens.

The scheme, which was first announced last year, allows those with BNO status to live, study and work in Britain for five years and eventually apply for citizenship.

BNO is a special status created under British law in 1987 that specifically relates toHongKong.

China says the West's views on its actions overHongKongare clouded by misinformation and an imperial handover.

Applications soar

It is not clear how many Hong Kongers will take up the offer, especially as the coronavirus restricts global flights and mires much of the world, including Britain, in a painful economic malaise.

But a BN(O) passport is available to a huge number of people about 70 per cent of Hong Kong's 7.5 million population.

Applications for BN(O) passports have skyrocketed more than 300 per cent since the national security law was imposed last July, with 733,000 registered holders as of mid-January.

Britain predicts up to 154,000 Hong Kongers could arrive over the next year and as many as 322,000 over five years, bringing an estimated "net benefit" of up to £2.9 billion ($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 full citizenship but China was opposed to the move.

The BN(O) was a compromise, allowing Hong Kongers born before 1997 the right to stay in Britain for six months at a time, but with no working or settling rights.

Now it has become one of the few ways out for Hong Kongers hoping to start a new life overseas as authorities conduct mass arrests against democracy supporters and move to purge the restless city of dissenting views.