Hong Kong Watch welcomes the Home Affairs Select Committee’s call for the UK Government to meet the gaps in its BNO visa scheme

Today, the Home Affairs Select Committee in the UK Parliament has called for the Government to extend its BNO visa scheme for those born after 1997, by allowing a young person with a BNO parent to apply separately.

Following an inquiry into the new BNO visa scheme in which Hong Kong Watch submitted both oral and written evidence, the cross-party Home Affairs Select Committee also recommended the Government to appoint a new BNO Resettlement Panel that would work with local authorities, new residents and civil society groups to help visa holders settle into study, work and civil and community life in the UK, as well as establish an expert casework team within the Home Office to process complex BNO applications.

The Home Affairs Select Committee report also raises concern over the cost of the BNO visa scheme citing the upfront nature and scale of the additional Immigration Health Surcharge will not be affordable for some BNO visa holders. 

The Committee recommends that the Government instead introduces means-tested fee-wavers or reduced payments for Hong Kongers to whom the cost is a significant barrier. 

They also recommend that the government consider allowing BNO students to pay domestic tuition fees. 

Commenting on the Home Affairs Select Committee report, Hong Kong Watch’s Chief Executive, Benedict Rogers, said:

“We welcome and fully support the recommendations laid out in the Home Affairs Select Committee report calling for the Government to urgently improve its BNO visa scheme.

For some time now, Hong Kong Watch has raised concerns with parliamentarians, the Home Office, and the FCDO about the continued gaps in the BNO visa policy, particularly costs associated with the scheme, the need for additional support for integration, the question of tuition fees, and the lack of support for those born after 1997 who are the most likely to be arrested under the National Security Law.

We urge the Government to listen to this cross-party committee of parliamentarians and adopt these recommendations, which will ensure every Hong Konger in need of a lifeline can safely leave Hong Kong, settle and integrate into the UK.”

The full report can be read here: The UK’s offer of visa and settlement routes for residents of Hong Kong (parliament.uk)