London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 11, 2025

The UK is peddling a citizenship pipe dream to naive Hongkongers

The UK is peddling a citizenship pipe dream to naive Hongkongers

Yonden Lhatoo explains why the British government’s offer to take in those from the city with BN(O) status is a political sham that will only bring grief to unwitting victims who fall for it.

Just like the young Dick Whittington of English folklore who found out the hard way centuries ago that the streets of London were not in fact paved with gold, many Hongkongers getting excited over Britain’s great offer of a “pathway to citizenship” are in for bitter disappointment.

Purportedly out of overwhelming concern for the safety of their loyal former colonial subjects, the people in charge of good ol’ Blighty announced this week that they were creating a special class of visa for Hongkongers with British National (Overseas) status to help them escape the city’s terrifying new national security law.

According to official estimates from the British side, more than a million eligible Hongkongers could land on English shores in the next five years under this generous new visa scheme, half of them in the first six months after applications open at the end of January, 2021.


But how many will actually end up settling in Britain? And if they do, are they fully aware of what they’re signing up for? Because as magnanimous and warm as the offer sounds, the cold, hard reality behind it is that life in Britain looks harsh enough to make “suffering” in Hong Kong feel like a picnic.

Unemployment in Britain surged to its highest rate in more than three years at 4.5 per cent in the three months to August, with nearly 3 million people claiming out-of-work benefits in September. It’s going to be even worse, with the unemployment rate expected to hit up to 10 per cent by the end of the year as the government scales back its job protection scheme and enforces a new system of lockdowns to tackle a raging pandemic.

Imagine more than a million “refugees” from Hong Kong descending upon that job market and how all those Brits struggling to find work and make a living would react to the competition.

The new immigrants from Hong Kong will not be eligible for welfare payments, and must be able to support themselves financially for at least six months. And they will have to be self-sufficient for up to seven years before they can become citizens.

Immigration consultants expect mostly unskilled youngsters to take up the citizenship offer, rather than professionals who would much rather move to other Western countries with better job prospects, such as the US and Canada.


Unemployment in Britain surged to its highest level in more than three years in the three months to August, reaching 4.5 per cent.

“My advice to people who wish to migrate to the UK, especially young people, is to be mentally prepared for the worst-case scenario, in which they do not have a job for a long period of time, and may need to survive on their savings without income,” one consultant told this paper.


It’s not just the money. Hongkongers will be moving from one of the safest cities in the world in terms of Covid-19 containment to a country that has only its own, shambolic response to blame for more than 830,000 infections and well over 44,000 deaths.

Not to mention the racist attacks against Asians, especially Chinese-looking people being blamed for the plague. The best of British luck explaining to some lout on the street spitting at you or punching you in the face that you’re actually from Hong Kong and share his anti-China sentiment.

Oh, and you can also say goodbye to all the perks of living in Hong Kong that we all take for granted – the low tax regime, quality and efficiency of most services, convenient public transport system, and better-funded and more accessible health care.


Hong Kong is one of the safest cities in the world in terms of Covid-19 containment.


The British government is peddling a pipe dream to Hongkongers, pretending it cares for their well-being and effectively encouraging them to abandon their own homeland. Let’s hope most of them are pragmatic enough to realise they’re better off staying put here. And as for those who leave only to end up deeply disappointed and desperate to return home, let’s hope Beijing is benevolent enough to let them back in without retaliation.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
ChatGPT CEO signals policy to alert authorities over suicidal youth after teen’s death
The British legal mafia hit back: Banksy mural of judge beating protester is scrubbed from London court
Surpassing Musk: Larry Ellison becomes the richest man in the world
Embarrassment for Starmer: He fired the ambassador photographed on Epstein’s 'pedophile island'
Manhunt after 'skilled sniper' shot Charlie Kirk. Footage: Suspect running on rooftop during panic
Effective Protest Results: Nepal’s Prime Minister Resigns as Youth-Led Unrest Shakes the Nation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
King Charles and Prince Harry Share First In-Person Moment in 19 Months
Starmer Establishes Economic ‘Budget Board’ to Centralise Policy and Rebuild Business Trust
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
Poland Shoots Down Russian Drones in Airspace Violation During Ukraine Attack
Brazilian police say ex-President Bolsonaro had planned to flee to Argentina seeking asylum
Trinidad Leader Applauds U.S. Naval Strike and Advocates Forceful Action Against Traffickers
Kim Jong Un Oversees Final Test of New High-Thrust Solid-Fuel Rocket Engine
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Macron Appoints Sébastien Lecornu as Prime Minister Amid Budget Crisis and Political Turmoil
Supreme Court temporarily allows Trump to pause billions in foreign aid
Charlie Sheen says his father, Martin Sheen, turned him in to the police: 'The greatest betrayal possible'
Vatican hosts first Catholic LGBTQ pilgrimage
Apple Unveils iPhone 17 Series, iPhone Air, Apple Watch 11 and More at 'Awe Dropping' Event
Pig Heads Left Outside Multiple Paris Mosques in Outrage-Inducing Acts
Nvidia’s ‘Wow’ Factor Is Fading. The AI chip giant used to beat Wall Street expectations for earnings by a substantial margin. That trajectory is coming down to earth.
France joins Eurozone’s ‘periphery’ as turmoil deepens, say investors
On the Anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s Death: Prince Harry Returns to Britain
France Faces New Political Crisis, again, as Prime Minister Bayrou Pushed Out
Murdoch Family Finalises $3.3 Billion Succession Pact, Ensuring Eldest Son’s Leadership
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Court Staff Cover Up Banksy Image of Judge Beating a Protester
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Nayib Bukele Points Out Belgian Hypocrisy as Brussels Considers Sending Army into the Streets
Elon Musk Poised to Become First Trillionaire Under Ambitious Tesla Pay Plan
France, at an Impasse, Heads Toward Another Government Collapse
Burning the Minister’s House Helped Protesters to Win Justice: Prabowo Fires Finance Minister in Wake of Indonesia Protests
Brazil Braces for Fallout from Bolsonaro Trial by corrupted judge
The Country That Got Too Rich? Public Spending Dominates Norway Election
Nearly 40 Years Later: Nike Changes the Legendary Slogan Just Do It
Generations Born After 1939 Unlikely to Reach Age One Hundred, New Study Finds
End to a four-year manhunt in New Zealand: the father who abducted his children to the forests was killed, the three siblings were found
Germany Suspends Debt Rules, Funnels €500 Billion Toward Military and Proxy War Strategy
EU Prepares for War
BMW Eyes Growth in China with New All‑Electric Neue Klasse Lineup
Trump Threatens Retaliatory Tariffs After EU Imposes €2.95 Billion Fine on Google
Tesla Board Proposes Unprecedented One-Trillion-Dollar Performance Package for Elon Musk
US Justice Department Launches Criminal Mortgage-Fraud Probe into Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook
Escalating Drug Trafficking and Violence in Latin America: A Growing Crisis
US and Taiwanese Defence Officials Held Secret Talks in Alaska
Report: Secret SEAL Team 6 Mission in North Korea Ordered by Trump in 2019 Ended in Failure
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Florida Murder Case: The Adelson Family, the Killing of Dan Markel, and the Trial of Donna Adelson
×