UK opens door to citizenship to over 300,000 HK residents

Extension to visa rights promised if Beijing does not row back on imposing national security laws on territory

Dominic Raab, foreign secretary, has pledged to extend visa rights for British National (Overseas) passport holders and facilitate their path to British citizenship unless Beijing rows back from plans to impose national security laws on Hong Kong.

The offer is a striking move from a government that is committed to restricting immigration and shut the door to free entry to the UK for EU citizens after voting through its Brexit deal last year.

It came after China formally approved a plan to impose national security legislation on Hong Kong, following increasing frustration in Beijing at the city’s failure to clampdown on pro-democracy protests. It will mark the first time Beijing has introduced a law that imposes criminal penalties into Hong Kong’s legal code, bypassing the city’s legislature.

About 315,000 people currently hold valid BNO passports, a document issued to Hong Kong residents born before the handover of the territory from UK to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.