Hong Kong Watch welcomes update on the relationship requirement for BNO visa scheme

On 31 January 2024, the third anniversary of the launch of the BNO visa scheme, the Home Office updated the relationship requirement for partners applying for the BNO visa. The change removed the need for partners to have been living together for at least two years prior to applying.

If a couple is not living together, they will need to provide evidence of an ongoing commitment to each other. This could include evidence that the partners communicate regularly, support each other financially, care for any children they might have together, and spend time together as a couple.

Hong Kong Watch welcomes this change to the Immigration Rules, which helps make the BNO scheme more inclusive and enables couples who do not live together to be reunited in the UK. Particularly in such a global city as Hong Kong, many couples and families are formed of different nationalities. With differing eligibility for visa schemes and the dislocations of Covid-19, these couples can find themselves living in different countries and unable to fulfil the 2-year cohabitation requirement. For such couples, this recent update marks a welcome change.

The update to the rules is also surely to be welcomed by those younger Hong Kongers born after 1997, who qualified for the BNO visa scheme following an update to the rules in November 2022. With more than 80 percent of millennial Hong Kongers living with their parents, partly due to the fiercely competitive real estate market in Hong Kong, many young couples may not have had the opportunity to cohabit for two years. For these couples, the recent change is a humane and considerate move to ensure that genuine commitment, and not a relatively arbitrary length of time spent renting a place together, is the true test of whether they are able to come to the UK and start a new life.

A total of 191,000 people have applied for the British National (Overseas) visa in the three years since its opening. Hong Kong Watch welcomes this update to the BNO visa scheme which is even more inclusive and allows even more Hong Kongers to emigrate to the UK and live with the dignity, rights, and freedom that they deserve.

Hong Kong Watch’s Chief Executive Officer, Benedict Rogers, said:

“We are delighted that the Government has taken the step to further expand the BNO Visa for those brave young Hong Kongers who are not currently covered by the scheme, and to recognise the relationships that they have that may not be included in the current policy.

We welcome this step that will allow even more Hong Kongers to migrate to the UK and help those in need of a lifeline out of the city, be reunited with their loved ones, and make decisions as a family.”

內政部修訂BNO簽證關係要求 香港監察歡迎政府進一步擴大申請資格

2024年1月31日是BNO簽證計劃推出三週年的日子，英國內政部當日修訂以伴侶身分申請BNO簽證的關係要求，移除伴侶需要在申請前已同居至少兩年的要求。

如申請人與伴侶並非同居，就需要提供證據證明對彼此有持續承諾，例如提供證據證明兩人定期溝通、在經濟上互相援助、共同照顧小朋友、以伴侶關係共度時光。

香港監察歡迎這項移民法規（Immigration Rules）修訂，其有助令BNO計劃更為包容，讓非同居伴侶能夠在英國團聚。

自BNO簽證開放申請三年以來，總共已有191,000人申請簽證。上述修訂讓更多香港人能夠移民英國，享有應有的尊嚴、權利、自由並以此生活，香港監察表示歡迎。

香港監察行政總監羅傑斯（Benedict Rogers）表示：

「我們很高興英國政府採取措施，為目前計劃未有涵蓋的勇敢年輕港人進一步擴大BNO簽證申請資格，並承認可能未包括在現行政策的關係。

這項措施容讓更多香港人移民英國，有助需要救生索的人離開香港，與親人團聚，並以家人關係做決定，我們樂見其成。」