A possible delay to a path to residency for Honger Kongers who have fled to the UK has been slammed.
People from Hong Kong have been migrating to the UK in increasing numbers since 2021, after a National Security Law started restricting democratic freedoms in the region, which led to protests.
Hong Kong was a colony of the British Empire until July 1997, when it became an autonomous region of the People’s Republic of China.
The people who have arrived in Reading, its suburbs and the Wokingham area through the British National Overseas (BNO) visa, which grants them initial permission to stay in the UK for either 30 months (two and a half years) or five years.
Hong Kongers can apply for permanent residency after this period.
However, the government is considering extending the BNO’s 5-Year Path to Permanent Residency to 10 years.
The potential for this extension has been slammed by councillor Andy NG Siu-hong (Liberal Democrats, Maiden Erlegh & Whitegates.
He introduced a motion at the full meeting of Wokingham Borough Council on September 25 to oppose the extension.
Cllr Siu-hong said: “Wokingham is home to a growing population of people from the former British colony of Hong Kong, many of whom deeply value freedom, democracy, and human rights, having suffered through the crackdown in Hong Kong.
“Since the introduction of the BNO visa 5-Year Path to Permanent Residency route, hundreds of thousands of Hongkongers have moved to the UK in recent years, mostly through this route.”
In reaction to the extension to a 10-year period, his motion declared that: “Extending the BNO visa route would impose significant burdens on Hong Kongers who relocate in good faith, such as more visa renewal costs and International Health Surcharge (IHS) payments, reduced job and housing stability, and the classification of students as ‘overseas’, which triggers tuition fees that can be tens of thousands of pounds higher.
“The BNO visa scheme represents the UK’s legal and moral duty to the people of Hong Kong, who are escaping an increasingly repressive regime.
“If the BNO visa scheme is significantly tightened, it would abandon the UK’s national commitment to Hongkongers who have already come or are planning to come.”
Finally, the motion called on the council to urge the goverment to ensure the BNO visa pathway to settlement is not extended from five to 10 years, and ‘further relax eligibility criteria to protect the people of the former colony of Hong Kong.’
A separate motion by cllr Pauline Jorgensen (Conservative, Hillside), the leader of the opposition, asked the council to note the importance of access to English as an additional language course to people settling in the Borough from abroad.
Clr Rachel Burgess (Labour, Norreys) amended this motion to make the council ensure that language is not a barrier, and the importance of English languages courses for anyone who requires them.
The amended motion was unanimously approved. It was seconded by cllr Nagi Nagella (Labour, Norreys).
