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William Yiu

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.
This year marks the fifth anniversary of the British National (Overseas) visa pathway, which allows successful applicants and their dependants to live, work and study in the United Kingdom for up to five years.
“Since 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],” the UK Home Office said on Thursday when releasing quarterly immigration statistics.
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 670 people had obtained settlement status as of December 2025.
“Some 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,” the Home Office added.
If BN(O) visa holders have lived in the UK for five years, they can apply to stay permanently under a status known as “indefinite leave to remain”. 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.


The BN(O) scheme was introduced in 2021 in response to Beijing’s imposition of the national security law on Hong Kong in 2020. The legislation, which prohibits acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces, followed months of anti-government protests in 2019.
Around 173,300 people from Hong Kong have arrived in the UK under BN(O) visas since the scheme was launched.
The Home Office noted that following the initial peak when the scheme opened in 2021, visa applications and grants on the BN(O) route had decreased annually.
The number of BN(O) out-of-country visas peaked in the period from April 2021 to March 2022, with 86,439 granted.
In comparison, there were 7,214 grants of BN(O) out-of-country visas from April 2025 to March this year.
“The general trend since this period has seen BN(O) visa grants decrease each year since,” the Home Office said.


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.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}British National (Overseas) visa pathway was launched five years ago

British National (Overseas) visa pathway was launched five years ago