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Britain officially launches new visa scheme for Hong Kong citizens

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Obstinate British government still wants to intervene in Hong Kong's internal affairs when the nation itself has already plunged into endless troubles. Unthinkable..

London should avoid acting tough, try to put its own house in order first.

-22 ( +3 / -25 )

Bravo Prime Minister !!! Hong Kong people deserve freedom !!!

8 ( +13 / -5 )

Feel ambivalent. Persecuted HK citizens seek freedom... in their own home territory.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

Well done PM Johnson! I was of the belief that the UK was going to take in around 3 Million youngsters from HK, not limited for now to 300,000? But, its a start at least. These people will work hard, pay their taxes and not cost the government anything in welfare since they are banned for 10 years from it. The approximate GBP3 Billion they bring to the economy within years will be a huge boost to the decimated UK.

Now, over to you, other democracies. There are millions more Hong Kongers over 23 years old who are highly educated and ready to take their skills to freedom-loving nations. Japan should get in fast and offer them PR or citizenship before the US, Australia, Canada, Taiwan or NZ snaps them up.

Once again, congratulations to the UK!

7 ( +11 / -4 )

My mistake- the remaining HK citizens not covered by the UK resettlement scheme are the under 23s. Even more reason for Japan to offer them PR to get them over.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

The U.K. has a moral obligation to these people after China broke the treaty.

10 ( +13 / -3 )

The U.K. has a moral obligation to these people after China broke the treaty.

Not when many many HK people said it was time to throw off the colonial yoke and get rich off the Chinese boom. Fact is HK is a black market money funnel to the West for those HK and mainlanders who want to flee.

That's why the CCP has shut it down earlier than expected.

Brexit was a (bare majority) and now let's import more ingrates.

-5 ( +3 / -8 )

The 250 quid visa is only valid if you also pay 600 quid a year up front for the NHS. It's called the "Immigrant Health Surcharge". Non-UK spouses and immigrants from other places get hit with it too. They also have to pay income tax on any work they do, the usual way British people pay for the NHS.

This fee may be perfectly fair, but it is sneaky not to mention it, firstly because it ups the cost way beyond this media-friendly 250 number and secondly because it lets anti-immigration people claim that immigrants do not pay for the NHS, which they clearly do. With the fee and income tax/NI, they pay twice. As Fighto suggests, many from HK will be young and highly educated, and they may find a better deal on offer in countries aside from the UK.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Well done PM Johnson! I was of the belief that the UK was going to take in around 3 Million youngsters from HK, not limited for now to 300,000?

Anyone with any knowledge of the UK knew 3,000,000 would be logistically impossible.

The approximate GBP3 Billion they bring to the economy within years will be a huge boost to the decimated UK.

The UK is not decimated.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

Not when many many HK people said it was time to throw off the colonial yoke and get rich off the Chinese boom. Fact is HK is a black market money funnel to the West for those HK and mainlanders who want to flee.

That's why the CCP has shut it down earlier than expected.

Moving to the U.K. is not obligatory for those qualified to do so. They do have a choice, unlike in China.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Beautiful

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Obstinate British government still wants to intervene in Hong Kong's internal affairs

I don’t know if obstinate is the right word here. There is a moral argument that the UK owes something to the people of HK.

That said, there is a housing crisis in the UK and there are practical questions to be asked about inflating the population further. There are people already living in the UK in sub-standard accommodation waiting for a livable place. There is also a moral argument that they need to be housed.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

We are living very happily under the New Securities Law.  Thanks Great Britain, USA, Australia, EU...etc to offer your generosity and accept those rioters into your societies.  Wishing more HK rioters can leave as soon as possible.

-10 ( +1 / -11 )

We are living very happily under the New Securities Law. Thanks Great Britain, USA, Australia, EU...etc to offer your generosity and accept those rioters into your societies. Wishing more HK rioters can leave as soon as possible.

Well, enjoy your life under Communism in the barrel of . Oh, and in poverty, since the brightest and best will be moving to freedom-loving nations and taking all the money and skills out of HK.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Like every other UK government announcement, you first have to ditch all the Johnson spin about beacon of democracy and being good chums to our old friends, and instead focus on what is being given to whom. Anyone using the scheme will have to pay up front and then pay their own way for everything.

and generate up to 2.9 billion pounds net benefit to the British economy over the next five years,

In establishing what was openly referred to as the "hostile environment" toward immigration and then before and during Brexit, the UK government made no effort whatsoever to indicate net benefits of immigration. To do so now, but only for HK, is extremely distasteful.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

in the barrel of a CCP rifle.
4 ( +5 / -1 )

Good on the UK. Nothing like escaping your homeland to make you feel pride and loyalty to the one that takes you in and makes you at home.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

We are living very happily under the New Securities Law. Thanks Great Britain, USA, Australia, EU...etc to offer your generosity and accept those rioters into your societies. Wishing more HK rioters can leave as soon as possible.

It will be interesting to see HK freedom fighters square up to spoilt wumao brats in the West.

The kind of brats that get the freedom to say and do things that they wouldn't be able to do back in Xi's realm.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

In establishing what was openly referred to as the "hostile environment" toward immigration and then before and during Brexit, the UK government made no effort whatsoever to indicate net benefits of immigration. To do so now, but only for HK, is extremely distasteful.

The Tories have spent the last few years deporting veteran residents from the Windrush generation, but now they're looking to exploit these Hong Kong people for their money. It's nauseating, especially there was no democracy for Hong Kong people under British rule.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

The most essential facet is appreciation for these Hong Kongers plight.

The scheme, first announced last year, opens on Sunday and allows those with "British National (Overseas)" status to live, study and work in Britain for five years and eventually apply for citizenship.

That has a ring of layers of paperwork.

The pandemic in the UK, could ultimately take close 210,000 souls

That is a stretch insight.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Let us not forget the reason that Britain has offered this, the CCP Mafia have reneged on their treaty obligations and imposed their dictatorship on the Hong Kong people, who unlike the benighted population on the mainland have a concept and experience of freedom, democracy and rule of law. A fact that scares the pants off of Winnie the Pooh.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Brexit was a (bare majority) and now let's import more ingrates.

Ingrates? Ooof...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

China wants to put up a wall like the USSR did to keep citizens inside?

I don't see why China would care if people want to leave. That just leaves more land, more businesses, for hand-picked mainlanders to own. It also gets the troublemakers gone.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Brexit was a (bare majority) and now let's import more ingrates

Sounds to me like you are worried that the Hong Kongers have more energy and business acumen than their UK counterparts (they do too). Oh my, can't have those colonials getting richer than us native Brits. Might be the best move a post Brexit UK could make, re-energize their economy with some fresh blood and people who appreciate a free society (well, such as one has in a nation that has overarching internet surveillance and no guaranteed individual rights) and elected representative government. What are you afraid of?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I don't see why China would care if people want to leave. That just leaves more land, more businesses, for hand-picked mainlanders to own. It also gets the troublemakers gone.

Sigh. There is no private land ownership in China. All agricultural land is owned by collectives. Urban land is owned by the central government. Permitting private land ownership was discussed briefly in the next to last Peoples Congress of Hu Jintao's administration but ultimately the CCP rejected it. Even under UK rule Hong Kong never allowed private ownership of land. All of it was owned by the Hong Kong government. In PRC, one may lease a flat in a high rise condominium with hundreds of other flats for a period of years but never own it outright. Factories can own their building but not the land underneath. Owning the building but not the land to me means you don't really own anything.

China will see its population drop dramatically in the near future even without people leaving. The size of the working age population peaked in 2014 and has declined ever since. China's overall population is at its peak now and will begin a very steep decline in the coming years. We are talking a population loss of hundreds of millions by late in this century and a much older population that China may not be able to care for adequately.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I hope the new US administration extends a hand to the people of Hong Kong and offers them a chance to live in the US. Big middle finger to the Middle Kingdom.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Even under UK rule Hong Kong never allowed private ownership of land. All of it was owned by the Hong Kong government.

This appears to have changed in 1997. There was "freehold" ownership of land, buildings, in Hong Kong prior to that according to https://www.dlapiperrealworld.com/law/index.html?t=sale-and-purchase&s=ownership-of-real-estate&c=HK I don't know how widespread freehold owners were. The only people I know well in Hong Kong or Macau SARs all lived in flats with partial ownership of the building and land. In casual conversation, it never came up. OTOH, people in the US "own" their condo (like an apartment), pay a mortgage, and can sell it to almost anyone they like, but the building, grounds, and other community stuff is often owned either collectively or by a management company which charges monthly maintenance fees to each unit. The owner can lease their condo, if they like.

But in Hong Kong has to be a way for 1 lessee to sell their remaining time to another lessee, even if they don't own the land and have to get approval from the govt and other people with shares in the building. Walking around HK, there were lots of realtor signs with flats and homes posted with asking prices in the windows.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

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