British National (Overseas)
(asked on 21st February 2020) - View Source
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many British National Overseas passport holders there were in Hong Kong in each year since the introduction of that category of passport; whether she plans to review the rights afforded to those passport holders; and if she will make a statement.
We are unable to provide data on the volume of British National (Overseas) passports in circulation (valid) prior to 31 December 2015 as the data could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
We do not hold data on the number of British National Overseas passport holder’s resident in Hong Kong. The table below contains information on the number of British National (Overseas) passports in circulation from 2015 to 2019.
Year | Nationality Description | Number of passports (Volume) |
31 December 2015 | British National (Overseas) | 143,219 |
31 December 2016 | British National (Overseas) | 152,351 |
31 December 2017 | British National (Overseas) | 158,107 |
31 December 2018 | British National (Overseas) | 169,653 |
31 December 2019 | British National (Overseas) | 314,779 |
BN(O) status is part of the delicate balance in negotiations that led to the Sino-British Joint Declaration. We believe it would not be right to change the legal status of BN(O)s at this point in time.