Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of redefining criminality rules for British National (Overseas) visa applications.

Part 9 of the Immigration Rules, in relation to criminality and other adverse behaviour, apply to applications to the British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) route. All applications are carefully assessed against the latest country information. Guidance for caseworkers provides flexibility to ensure that overseas convictions and offences not recognised in the UK do not result in the automatic refusal of an application.

Following representations from stakeholders, we are considering whether the current approach to criminality remains appropriate given the situation in Hong Kong.