UK offers clear route to British citizenship for 3mil+ Hong Kong citizens

[Cam77]

The UK government has effectively just offered virtual no strings right to remain/full British citizenship to 3 million HK citizens + spouses/dependent children (as far as I understand it).

Five years no strings leave to remain for those eligible for BNO passport+any dependents. I think the legislation hasn't been passed, but just a matter of time.

Given the historical closeness between HK and the UK and the current situation in HK, I would not be a bit surprised if, say, half a million Hong Kongers take up the offer of moving to the UK in the next year or two.

Have to admit I didn't expect that from the Tories. Just curious whether people support this move by the British government?

YABU = No
YANBU = Yes

Like PeterPomegranate, I too wanted us to stay in the EU and have never objected to EU citizens coming here.

Probably not a popular opinion, but I think the British government owe this option to the HK citizens.

Probably not a popular opinion, but I think the British government owe this option to the HK citizens.

But why not the British Nationals in (say) Zimbabwe ? Or Rhodesia ?

@TheVoiceOfReasonableness

I’m very confused.

I thought colonialism was meant to be a bad thing, but here we have a former colonial people waving their former colonial flag as a symbol of protest?

Why are they complaining when their own people’s government is seeking to liberate them from alien things that their colonial oppressors left behind (like free speech, democracy and the rule of law?) Shouldn’t they be grateful?

I would love to know what the Woke view is on all this because at the moment I’m all confused!

I'm not 'woke' (heaven forfend). But I do know a fair amount about colonialism. You clearly don't. It isn't simple. In many places colonialism mean promoting one set of people and demoting others (still all lesser than the Brits of course). Divide and rule. It's been around a while. Have a little read about Rwanda. It made people feel that the system was good for them not those other people. HK had an elevated status and that's hard to give up.

We also used freeing people and Christianity to promote ourselves. And yes, democracy and all that jazz.

But disrupting history and development rarely works well. Artificial boundaries aren't great. Leasing entire swathes of a country and then dumping it isn't something that lends itself to peaceful development. It's like people who say 'look how terrible the Africans are at ruling themselves,we should have stayed'. It's bullshit and I could write a book about why.

China is rotten to the core in many ways. But it has also solved millennia-long issues in the last few decades. Overpopulation, frequent and devastating famines, constant wars, stalled development. It hasn't solved them in ways I would choose, and their human rights record is horrifying, but the record of the US and UK is pretty dreadful too so let's not kid ourselves that we know best. We tend to concentrate on killing people in other countries and China on it's own.

But why not the British Nationals in (say) Zimbabwe ? or Rhodesia ?

Yes, why not? If they need to be brought out of their country.

If they're British citizens then they have the right to come here.

*I should have highlighted the first line in my pp, I was quoting SerendipityJane.

@pigsDOfly

But why not the British Nationals in (say) Zimbabwe ? or Rhodesia ?

Yes, why not? If they need to be brought out of their country.

If they're British citizens then they have the right to come here.

We have to remember there is a difference between British Nationals and British Citizens. Citizens have a right of abode. Nationals don't.

And the time to have bought Rhodesians out of their country was either the late 1970s when Zimbabwe was created, or in the early 90s when Mugabe started his land grab. Which were both under Tory governments too, as I recall.

Too late now.

But why not the British Nationals in (say) Zimbabwe ? or Rhodesia ?

Aren’t they the same place?

The very concept of someone who is a British National but not a British Citizen was invented for HKers, to keep them out of the UK.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_National_(Overseas)

Until 1983 all Citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies (CUKCs) had the same nationality and ability to reside in the UK.

The very concept of someone who is a British National but not a British Citizen was invented for HKers, to keep them out of the UK.

I remember it as being aimed more at people from India, Pakistan, and former African colonies. I know it was a Tory idea after the various riots which were feeding the National Front who I demonstrated against many times in my misguided left wing days.

I can't imagine many will want to come here right now: jobs are being lost left, right and centre and it's going to take years to recover from this mess.

I think it’s the right thing to do.

I’m worried about people who may be the right age to come but have an 18yo or similar aged dc. The DC wouldn’t be allowed to come? So I’d guess the parents will stay. Not everyone will be able to come become of things like this. So if I was in Hong Kong I couldn’t come as wouldn’t leave Dd. But my older brother with younger kids would be able to,leave.

South China Morning Post, for an ongoing HK perspective.

(Obviously this is just one paper, and an English-language one at that. It also has to keep its nose clean because it publishes in HK.)

www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3091605/china-lashes-out-five-eyes-nations-britain-and-australia-offer

It seems after reading the article that some will be moving and others are waiting and seeing but will move if things become untenable.

The extra passport is a way out as long as China don’t shut the borders

It does sound as though they are working on trying to get out even those who are 18+ and born after 1997 if they want to leave

It's quite funny seeing so many lefties who are saying they didn't expect this from the Tories. Why not? We have always been clear that we support those in genuine need

We are talking about the same party? Windrush, Syrian crisis, using Afghani translators (at great risk to them) to support operations and then refusing them refuge as promised? Just to be clear?

In principle yes but I agree with pp regarding the uk being able to accommodate them at the moment.

I wouldn't take them up on it, if I were them.

Racism towards anyone who looks even a bit Chinese is at ridiculous levels in the UK now, and it feels like for many, it's the last form of acceptable racism. The one way to guarantee feeling home sick is to move somewhere where everyone tells you to go home.

The UK is not the tolerant place it believes itself to be.

The UK is not the tolerant place it believes itself to be

Well at least you won’t get a life time prison sentence for saying that.

@Oliversmumsarmy If that's the best I can hope for from life, honestly, I feel like giving up.

I’m sure they’ve only offered it because they know people won’t come!

I’m sure they’ve only offered it because they know people won’t come!

We have a history of fucking up on that score !!

23 June 2016

@jackdaw141
Haha! So true I should have said “think” they won’t come!!

I welcome it and think it's absolutely the right thing to do.

And it has the added bonus of enraging the xenophobic wing among Brexiteers, who are at risk of apoplexy, such is their rage at opening the door to people from HK while slamming it shut on in the face of EU migrants.

The comments on the websites of some of the right-wing papers have been quite amusing.

There was quite a considerable number of people from Commonwealth countries who reportedly voted Brexit because it would limit EU immigration and in turn made immigration from non EU countries more available... So I guess the kind of got their wish. Kiiiind of.

There was quite a considerable number of people from Commonwealth countries who reportedly voted Brexit because it would limit EU immigration and in turn made immigration from non EU countries more available...

Now we no longer have to give priority to white Europeans more people from other countries can live and work in the UK.
I think many Brexit voters (not just those from Commonwealth countries) will welcome this.