Nathan Law says ‘moral obligation’ to Hongkongers should extend to anyone fleeing from political persecution
An exiled leader of the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong has said the UK government risks reneging on a commitment to people from its former colony in its shake-up of legal immigration routes.
Nathan Law, a former Hong Kong politician who arrived in the UK in 2020 and has a bounty on his head, said that the government should reflect on its moral obligations when enacting its increase of the standard qualifying period for permanent residence to a decade.
He said the proposed change in asylum laws was creating fresh anxiety and uncertainty for Hongkongers forced to flee their homes as a consequence of the change in the politics of the territory in recent years after its handover to China in 1997.
The current five-year wait for leave to remain will not be affected for those and their dependants born before 1 July 1997 in Hong Kong who registered for British national overseas (BNO) status.
