Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to extend the eligibility of the Hong Kong British National Overseas visa scheme to pro-democracy activists from Hong Kong who were born after 1997.

The Hong Kong British National (Overseas) (BN(O) route opens for applications from 31 January 2021.

We recognise children of BN(O) status holders born on or after 1 July 1997 may not have had the opportunity to be registered as BN(O) status holders. We do not wish to split family units and therefore the children of a BN(O) status holder who fall into this category who form part of the same household will be able to apply for this route with their BN(O) parent. We do not currently have any plans to change these requirements.

Individuals born after 1 July 1997, who no longer live with their BN(O) parents, can consider the other UK immigration routes available, these include the Student, Family and Skilled Worker routes. The new Skilled Worker route enables individuals to come to the UK in a much wider range of roles and at a lower general salary threshold than under the previous visa it replaced.

There is also our existing youth mobility scheme with Hong Kong which is open to those aged between 18 and 30 and offers a two-year grant of leave in the UK. There are 1000 places currently available each year.