Call to sign petition to the UK Prime Minister on maintaining the 5+1 BNO pathway
If you would like to sign our petition, please click here.
Today, Hong Kong Watch is launching a petition to the UK Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, urging his government to maintain the pathway to citizenship for the British National (Overseas) (BNO) scheme in its current form of 5+1 – five years’ residency to become eligible for settled status, plus an additional 12 months to become eligible for British citizenship.
This petition comes after the Home Office, on 20 May, refused to rule out extending the pathway to achieve settled status for those on the BNO scheme to ten years, following the publication of the White Paper Restoring control over the immigration system on 12 May.
In response, Hong Kong Watch is calling on BNO visa holders across the UK to sign our petition to the Prime Minister, asking his government to maintain the original 5+1 year pathway to citizenship for BNO Hong Kongers.
The petition lays out the practical justifications for why the scheme should be maintained in its current form, and highlights the substantive differences between the BNO scheme and other forms of visa, such as student or skilled worker.
Your support for our advocacy on behalf of BNO Hong Kongers is sincerely appreciated.
Please see the full text of the petition below.
呼籲全英BNO港人聯署致英國首相請願信 要求維持「5+1」BNO簽證政策
請按此簽署請願信。
今天，香港監察發起一封致英國首相施紀賢（Keir Starmer）的請願信，促請英國政府維持現行BNO計劃的「5+1」入籍途徑——即居住五年可獲得定居身分，再加上12個月獲得英國公民身分。
早前，英國內政部於5月12日發表白皮書《Restoring control over the immigration system》，並於5月20日拒絕排除BNO簽證持有人獲得定居身分將延長至十年的可能性。
因此，香港監察正呼籲英國各地的BNO港人簽署這封致英國首相的請願信，要求政府維持現行BNO簽證政策的「5+1」入籍途徑。
這封請願信闡述了維持BNO簽證政策現有形式的實際理據，並強調BNO計劃與其他類型簽證（如學生簽證或技術工人簽證）之間的實質差異。
香港監察衷心感謝各位支持我們代表BNO港人展開的倡議工作。
請在下方閱讀請願信全文。
— Start of letter to Prime Minister 致首相信函開端—
Dear Prime Minister,
Re: Maintain the 5+1 pathway to citizenship for British National (Overseas) visa holders
We are writing to urgently request that the UK government commit to maintaining the 5+1 pathway to citizenship for the British National (Overseas) (BNO) visa scheme, as promised to BNO visa holders at the launch of the scheme in 2020.
On 12 May, in a press conference, you announced the launch of a new White Paper, Restoring control over the immigration system, which was published by the Home Office on the same day. In your speech, you stated that ‘[t]he time it takes to acquire settled status [will be] extended from five years to ten.’ This policy change was reaffirmed within the White Paper.
The White Paper did not offer clarity on if or how the proposed policy change would affect the BNO visa scheme, simply noting that the standard time to attain settled status will be extended to ten years, though ‘individuals will also have the opportunity to reduce the qualifying period based on Points-Based contributions to the UK economy and society’, and that the Home Office ‘will consult on these changes later this year.’
This lack of clarity on the future of the BNO scheme is seriously concerning for the 200,000 BNO Hong Kongers now living in the UK. Unlike those on other visa categories such as the skilled worker visa, the BNO humanitarian pathway was designed for those fleeing repression at home. We have invested our life savings in the UK and spent up to five years building new careers and lives in constituencies across Britain. Government-funded research by the Welcoming Committee for Hong Kongers has found that 99 percent of BNOs now in the UK intend to apply for UK citizenship. We are British Nationals and their dependents, former UK citizens prior to 1997, who have placed our trust in the UK government to stand by its promise of a 5+1 pathway to citizenship.
Extending the time it takes to achieve settled status on the BNO scheme to ten years would have serious practical implications. We list some of these below:
1. Access to withheld retirement funds (MPF):
Under current regulations in Hong Kong, many BNO holders can only withdraw their Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) retirement savings after obtaining settled status. A 10-year wait would significantly postpone access to an estimated £3 billion in withheld funds, placing undue financial strain on families who have resettled in the UK based on the 5+1 promise, and preventing these funds from being injected into the UK’s economy.
2. Impact on university-aged students:
BNO students must gain settled status before qualifying for home fee status at UK universities. The proposed changes would impose a ten-year wait on BNO students to attend university, as most BNO families cannot afford the significant cost of international fees. This is not just a delay on education and career aspirations, but an irreversible change to the futures of a generation of young British Nationals who will contribute to the UK throughout their working lives.
3. Severely limited international mobility:
BNO holders, many of whom retain only a HKSAR passport, face major barriers when travelling internationally once that passport expires. Without indefinite leave to remain (ILR) or a UK passport, they are effectively immobilised unless they risk interaction with People’s Republic of China (PRC) authorities or returning to Hong Kong, something that is not possible for many. A decade-long wait would isolate individuals from family overseas and restrict professional opportunities involving travel or secondments. Similarly, a child born to BNO parents in the UK may have to wait until they are eleven years old to gain a passport.
4. Lack of consular representation
BNO passport and visa holders are not entitled to consular asylum, protection, or emergency assistance through British diplomatic missions. This policy leaves many vulnerable individuals—including recently released political prisoners and exiled activists—without recourse or protection when travelling.
Further to these practical consequences, increasing the time to settled status for BNOs would have a serious negative impact on the UK’s diplomatic soft power. The BNO scheme was launched in response to the PRC’s ongoing crackdown on civil and political rights in Hong Kong, in violation of the UN-ratified 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration. The UK government has reiterated many times that the BNO humanitarian visa scheme is rooted in its historical and moral obligations to the people of Hong Kong, many of whom were British citizens before the handover on 1 July 1997.
Based on our ongoing legal and historical attachment to the UK, and the promise of a 5+1 pathway to citizenship, thousands of Hong Kongers like us have built new lives in the UK. Now, months before we start to become eligible for settled status, the UK government risks reneging on this promise. This would send a clear message that the UK’s ‘historic and moral commitments’ are conditional and politically expendable. It would be a catastrophic blow for the UK’s moral authority and international reputation.
As BNO Hong Kongers who fled political repression in Hong Kong based on the belief that we could build new lives in the UK, we implore the UK government to stand by its historical and moral commitments to the people of Hong Kong, and uphold the original terms of the deal under which we arrived in the UK.
Yours sincerely,
(names to be added)
— End of letter 信函結束—