The United Kingdom will be offering many residents of Hong Kong a pathway to citizenship.
The new policy, confirmed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson Wednesday, came in response to China’s new “national security” law, which severely restricts the freedoms of the people of Hong Kong.
The measure will provide a pathway to citizenship for residents of Hong Kong who are considered British Nationals Overseas. Many people applied for this status during the handover agreement in 1997, which extended the ability to have a U.K. passport and reside in the U.K. for up to six months.
While only about 350,000 residents of Hong Kong currently hold a British passport, 2.6 million people are eligible to apply for them and could all potentially become citizens of the nation. Johnson confirmed that the offer would be extended to the “family dependents” of BNOs, who “are usually resident in Hong Kong,” a significant move because the children of BNOs were not eligible to inherit their parent’s status.
Johnson told the Parliament that China’s new law represented a clear breach of the agreement made between the U.K. and China. After being a British territory for some time, Hong Kong was given back to China in 1997 with the assurance that the region would be able to maintain its capitalist system for 50 years after that.
“We will honor our commitment to change the arrangements for those holding BNO status and continue to stand up for the people of Hong Kong,” Johnson said.
