“We will grant BNOs five years’ limited leave to remain (in the United Kingdom), with the right to work or study,” British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told Parliament on July 1. “After five years, they will be able to apply for settled status. After a further 12 month with settled status, they will be able to apply for citizenship.”
The stunning thing about this promise is that it applies to all 3 million people in Hong Kong — almost half the population — who have British National (Overseas) status by virtue of having been born there before the former British colony was handed back to China in 1997.
They don’t even need to have an actual BNO passport (as 300,000 of them do). All 3 million of them qualify: “all those with BNO status will be eligible, as will their family dependants who are ordinarily resident in Hong Kong. The Home Office will put in place a simple, streamlined application process. There will be no quota on numbers.”
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