The British campaign against Mao Bo launched the BNO UK residency plan, which broke the walls of Hong Kong and snatched hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong people at once, which had a great impact on various industries. According to the latest figures just released by the British government, in the quarter from April to the end of June, BNO visa applications totaled 9,800, the same as the previous quarter, and a few percent less than the fourth quarter of last year. However, the figures also reflect that nearly 30,000 Hong Kong residents who have been approved have yet to leave for the UK. As far as I know, this is partly due to the difficulty of giving up high salaries and the difficulty of selling a property.
The British government announced the number of BNO visa applications for the latest quarter, which was the same as that of the previous quarter, and significantly lower than the peak period. Among the nearly 180,000 Hong Kong people who have been approved, about 30,000 have not left for the UK. They are still staying in Hong Kong due to different reasons.
Looking back at the trend of Hong Kong people applying for BNO visas to stay in the UK, at the beginning of 2021, the highest number reached 34,300 in the first quarter, and then gradually declined. By the fourth quarter of last year, it was reduced to 10,100, and then fell to 9,411 in the following quarter In the latest quarter, it was roughly flat, at the level of 9,800 copies, and it seems that it will run rampant for a while.
There is another figure, which seems to have a mystery, that is, nearly 180,000 applications have been approved so far, and they can enter and reside at any time. However, there are about 150,000 applicants who have already arrived in the UK, that is to say, about 30,000 People have not moved yet. This situation has already appeared in the first quarter of this year. During that time, 8,300 people arrived, a quarter less than the 11,000 in the previous season. What is the reason, it is worth exploring.
A scholar friend of mine knows many Hong Kong people who have been granted visas. He said that those middle-aged people with higher incomes and upper-middle ranks are worried that after immigrating to the UK, they may not be able to find the same good jobs, and their salaries will plummet. , so I plan to stay in Hong Kong for two or three years to continue collecting money and save enough “food and grass” before leaving.
Some of his other friends, apart from being reluctant to pay a high salary, also encountered a problem, that is, when they recently sold their properties, they just encountered a cold wind in the second-hand property market, and the property prices dropped a lot. If they can’t get a large amount of cash by selling the property, they don’t dare to pat their hearts and go to the UK rashly, and they will forget it when they go. Under such circumstances, the immigration plan had to be delayed.
He said that some people see that the economic environment in the UK is not good, and they are worried about changes in the government’s immigration policy, so they are studying other options. For example, the Canadian government has relaxed the requirements for applying for residence. Hong Kong people holding a BNO do not need to study in Canada. , can apply and become another option for them.
The British government may see some opponents “snatching customers”, and also feel that some Hong Kong people who intend to immigrate to the UK are in their 15th and 16th years, and they are a little shaken, so they recently announced to speed up the visa application time, hoping to lock them up earlier.
From the latest figures released by the British government, we can see two points: First, the number of applications for BNO visas has gradually declined and is rampant. If the British economy deteriorates, and Hong Kong is still a place to find banks, the number is likely to fall again after residency .
The British government has recently accelerated the time for granting BNO visas, competing with Canada and Australia. But some Hong Kong people are more worried about immigrating to the UK.
The second is that some Hong Kong people who have been approved have not yet made up their minds and are “delaying” before leaving for the UK. If Hong Kong can have a stronger “pull” and better conditions for “retaining people”, it is not impossible for them to change their minds and stay in Hong Kong.
Tokihito Monogatari
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Absurd things in the world, really every day. A month ago, the British Foreign Office published the “Half-Year Report on Hong Kong”, pointing out that Hong Kong people’s human rights and freedoms have been eroded, and calling on Beijing to abolish the “Hong Kong National Security Law”. , there is no human rights at all, the truth is “only the government is allowed to set fire.” Tang Jiahua, a member of the guild and a senior official, published an article today dismantling how this law is “spicy and evil”.
Not long ago, the United Kingdom formally passed the “National Security Law”. Tang Jiahua, a member of the guild and a senior lawyer, dismantled the law, saying it was “extremely spicy” and allowed suspects to be detained without court trials, which completely violated internationally recognized basic human rights.
The “extra hot bill” in the UK has been brewing for nearly a year, and it was recently passed by the Parliament and officially became law. Tang Jiahua has read countless laws and regulations, and he can see the most “evil” among them at a glance. He said that according to this law, as long as the Secretary of State reasonably believes that anyone suspected of “threat behavior by foreign powers” can apply to the court to arrest him and confine him within a radius of 200 miles of his residence for up to five years.
MI5 and MI6, which are responsible for national security in the UK, have been given greater powers to combat foreign interference in the UK. It is very obvious that the British government holds “double standards” to the Hong Kong National Security Law.
Because this is a national security case, it is different from ordinary crimes. When the court issues a decree according to this law, there is no need to go through a trial, and the suspicious person has no chance to defend in court. When the Secretary of State applies the Act to the courts, they are required to do so unless the court deems there is a “clear error”.
Tang Jiahua also saw another “spicy” point, that is, people who are locked up can no longer use general financial services, including having bank accounts, and are not allowed to use computers and mobile phones to surf the Internet, and are prohibited from contacting people designated by the authorities.
He believes that these provisions clearly violate the basic human rights stipulated in the International Covenant on Human Rights. As long as the authorities characterize the relevant person as “potentially endangering the national interest”, they can kill the crab with a big stone. Official power overrides human rights, which is quite terrifying.
Tang Jiahua pointed out earlier that in the “Hong Kong National Security Law”, the definition of criminal elements is rigorous and clear, targeting secession, subversion of the regime, terrorism, collusion with foreign forces, etc. What exactly is the act of “damaging national interests” is not clearly stated in the law, and the power to define it is given to the executive officials. Therefore, when it comes to the “evil” of the law, he believes that the British national security law is nothing compared to Hong Kong.
According to the British official explanation, the “spicy” national security law this time is aimed at threats from external forces, including espionage, interference in politics and other fields, destruction of infrastructure, disinformation, and cyber attacks. The Ministry of the Interior also made it clear that it targeted countries including Russia and China.
What makes people feel extremely absurd is why the UK can implement the “extremely spicy” national security law in order to guard against external threats, even disregarding human rights. But Britain has changed its face, scolding one thing and doing another, accusing?
Tang Jiahua was also surprised by one thing, that is, the British people seldom raised objections to this law that disregarded human rights, and the local media did not have much criticism.
It can be seen that it is not only officials and politicians who hold “double standards”, but the people and the media are also full of irrational prejudice against Hong Kong.
2023-08-25 11:06:20
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