{"id":599748,"date":"2026-05-23T12:11:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T12:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/599748\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T12:11:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T12:11:08","slug":"nearly-10000-hongkongers-granted-permanent-uk-residence-under-bno-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/599748\/","title":{"rendered":"Nearly 10,000 Hongkongers granted permanent UK residence under BN(O) scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Nearly 10,000 Hongkongers have been granted permanent residence in the UK under a bespoke British immigration pathway launched in January 2021, making them eligible to apply for citizenship next year.<\/p>\n<p>This year marks the fifth anniversary of the <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/british-national-overseas-passport?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">British National (Overseas)<\/a> visa pathway, which allows successful applicants and their dependants to live, work and study in the United Kingdom for up to five years.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cSince the scheme began, there have been a total of 9,804 grants of settlement to individuals whose most recent leave was on the BN(O) route, with 8,682 grants issued over the latest 12-month period [ending March 2026],\u201d the UK Home Office said on Thursday when releasing quarterly immigration statistics.<\/p>\n<p>The number of Hongkongers settling in the UK via the BN(O) route as of March this year is the highest on record, with the UK government in the previous quarter announcing <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/hong-kong\/society\/article\/3344988\/670-hongkongers-granted-settlement-uk-under-bno-visa-scheme-launch?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">670 people<\/a> had obtained settlement status as of December 2025.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cSome individuals may be qualifying earlier, where time spent on other eligible visa routes, before moving onto the BN(O) route, counts towards their five-year residence period,\u201d the Home Office added.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">If BN(O) visa holders have lived in the UK for five years, they can apply to stay permanently under a status known as \u201cindefinite leave to remain\u201d. This give them the right to live, work and study there for as long as they like and to access government benefits if they are eligible. They can then apply for British citizenship after a year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nearly 10,000 Hongkongers have been granted permanent residence in the UK under a bespoke British immigration pathway launched&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":599749,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5713,1205,204746,59,57,58,6875,12397,2795,42390,50,204747,11586,56,38163,54,55,20224],"class_list":["post-599748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-beijing","tag-british","tag-british-national-overseas-visa-pathway","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-hong-kong","tag-hongkongers","tag-immigration","tag-national-security-law","tag-news","tag-permanent-residence","tag-settlement","tag-uk","tag-uk-home-office","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-visa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=599748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/599749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=599748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=599748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=599748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}