Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he plans to allow Hong Kongers who are being processed as asylum seekers to apply for BNO visas at the same time.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

Applicants to the British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) route must have no serious criminal convictions, have not otherwise engaged in behaviour which the UK Government deems not conducive to the public good, or be subject to other general grounds for refusal set out in the Immigration Rules. However, we recognise that every case has its individual circumstances therefore caseworkers have flexibility to ensure that those who have custodial sentences for crimes which are not recognised as such in the UK are not automatically refused on the BN(O) route.

In most cases, a person with a pending asylum claim can make an application to the BN(O) route. Recent changes ensure that a person who has been placed on immigration bail due to a pending asylum claim will not have their application to the BN(O) route refused solely for that reason. To make a successful application, applicants will need to meet all the other requirements of the route.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what review his Department is undertaking of asylum applications by people from Hong Kong who have been involved in pro-democracy campaigns; and what his planned timescale is for that review.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The UK has a proud history of providing protection to those who need it with half a million individuals on humanitarian routes since 2015. All asylum claims admitted to the UK asylum system receive careful consideration. We will not remove anyone to their own, or any other country, where they would face persecution or serious harm.

Asylum decision makers carefully consider each claimant’s protection needs by assessing all the evidence provided by the claimant in light of published country information guidance. They receive extensive training on considering asylum claims and must follow published Home Office policy guidance. This includes any claims received from people from Hong Kong.

Those from Hong Kong may also be eligible for the Hong Kong British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) route which was launched following China’s imposition of the National Security Law in Hong Kong. To be eligible for the route, applicants must have BN(O) status, or be the eligible family member of someone with BN(O) status.

The Home Office is currently not undertaking a specific review into asylum applications by people from Hong Kong who have been involved in pro-democracy campaigns.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made of the number of asylum seekers from Hong Kong who have switched to British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) visa routes, and the way in which such applications have been handled, since they decided to allow adult children of BN(O) status holders to apply independently of their parent.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Those who apply to the British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) route from overseas should not travel to the UK until they have received a decision on their application. Most individuals who hold a BN(O) or Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passport will be able to apply to the BN(O) route without needing to attend a visa application centre by using the UK Chip Checker smartphone application.

In most cases, a person with a pending asylum claim can make an application to the BN(O) route, but all applications will need to meet the relevant requirements to be granted, including the suitability requirements. The Home Office is aware of the issues some individuals have faced when switching into the BN(O) route since it was amended to allow adult children of BN(O) status holders who were born after the handover of Hong Kong to apply independently of their parent, and we are looking into these cases.

Recent published data shows that in Quarter 2 of 2023, 98.58% of leave to enter cases and 98.35% of leave to remain cases classed as straightforward were decided within the service standard of 12 weeks.

This can be found at the following link: Visas and citizenship data: Q3 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

The Home Office does not currently hold any publishable data on the longest outstanding case.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether people from Hong Kong with a pending asylum claim are allowed to transfer onto the British National (Overseas) visa scheme if they have become eligible since its expansion on 30 November 2022.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

In most cases, a person with a pending asylum claim can make an application to the Hong Kong British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) route. However, all applications need to meet the relevant requirements to be granted, including the suitability requirements.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, given the recent arrest warrants and bounties for exiled Hong Kong pro-democracy activists, what plans they have to expedite the asylum applications of former Hong Kong elected district councillors.

Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth

The UK has a proud history of providing protection to those who need it. All asylum claims are considered on a case-by-case basis in line with published policy including those raised by Hong Kong nationals.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will expedite the asylum applications of (a) former Hong Kong elected district councillors and (b) pro-democracy party leadership figures in the context of recent arrest warrants and bounties for exiled Hong Kong pro-democracy activists.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

The UK has a proud history of providing protection to those who need it. All asylum claims are considered on a case-by-case basis in line with published policy including those raised by Hong Kong nationals.

Individuals from Hong Kong may also be able to apply for the Hong Kong British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) route which reflects the UK’s historic and moral commitment to those people of Hong Kong who chose to retain their ties to the UK by taking up BN(O) status before Hong Kong’s handover to China. To be eligible, applicants must have BN(O) status, or be the eligible family member of someone with BN(O) status.

In November 2022, the BN(O) route was expanded to allow adult children of BN(O) status holders, aged 18 or over and who were born on or after 1 July 1997 to apply to the route independently. As of 31 March 2023, a total of 166,420 applications to the BN(O) route have been granted since its introduction.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what support her Department is offering to (a) former Hong Kong elected district councillors and (b) pro-democracy party leadership figures who have been waiting for a decision on an asylum application.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

The UK has a proud history of providing protection to those who need it. All asylum claims are considered on a case-by-case basis in line with published policy including those raised by Hong Kong nationals.

Individuals from Hong Kong may also be able to apply for the Hong Kong British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) route which reflects the UK’s historic and moral commitment to those people of Hong Kong who chose to retain their ties to the UK by taking up BN(O) status before Hong Kong’s handover to China. To be eligible, applicants must have BN(O) status, or be the eligible family member of someone with BN(O) status.

In November 2022, the BN(O) route was expanded to allow adult children of BN(O) status holders, aged 18 or over and who were born on or after 1 July 1997 to apply to the route independently. As of 31 March 2023, a total of 166,420 applications to the BN(O) route have been granted since its introduction.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many Hong Kong citizens have entered the UK since the introduction of that territory's National Security Law (1) using the British National (Overseas) route, and (2) as asylum seekers; and in each case, what was the age profile in terms of (a) absolute number, and (b) relative percentage, for each age cohort of five years.

Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth

The Home Office publishes data on asylum and visas in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on asylum applications and initial decisions by nationality and age group can be found in tables Asy_D01 and Asy_D02 respectively of the ‘asylum and resettlement detailed datasets’. Please note that data relates to asylum applications and initial decisions and does not represent arrivals to the UK.

As at the end of March 2023 113,500 individuals have arrived in the UK using an out of country BN(O) visa. At this time we are unable to break down this figure by age. Additionally, data on BN(O) route visa applications and outcomes can be found in tables Vis_D01 and Vis_D02 respectively of the ‘managed migration datasets’.

Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbooks. The latest data relate to the year ending March 2023.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the asylum processing system for Hong Kong citizens.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

The UK has a proud history of providing protection to those who need it. There have been a total of 139,144 grants of out of country BN(O) visas and a total of 27,276 grants of in country BN(O) visas since its introduction on 31 January 2021 up to the end of March 2023.

All asylum claims are considered on a case-by-case basis in line with published policy including those raised by Hong Kong nationals.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Hong Kong citizens in the UK are awaiting a decision on their asylum application as of 16 May 2023.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

The Home Office publishes data on asylum applications in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’.

Data on the number of Hong Kong citizens in the UK awaiting a decision on their asylum application are published in table Asy_D03 of the ‘Asylum applications, decisions and resettlement detailed datasets’. The latest data relates to the end of December 2022. Please note that data for year ending March 2023 will be published 25 May 2023.

Data on the number of people from Hong Kong who have been returned from the UK in each of the last 5 years are published in table Ret_D01 of the ‘Detention and Returns detailed datasets’. The latest data relates to the end of December 2022. Data for year ending March 2023 will be published 25 May 2023.

Please note that deportations are a subset of enforced returns.

Guidance on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbooks. Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many asylum seekers from Hong Kong have been waiting for their case to be processed for longer than (1) six months, (2) one year, and (3) 18 months.

Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth

As of 10/03/2023, there are 52 Asylum Seekers in the Asylum Support Scheme with a Hong Kong nationality out of a total 108,700 Asylum Seekers. 22 of these 52 are currently in temporary accommodation.

All service users are entitled to access Wi-Fi wherever it is available with no restrictions placed on them accessing these services by the Home Office.

In 2022, 17 initial decisions were made on applications from Hong Kong nationals, 4 initial decisions were made on applications from Ukrainian nationals and 1,842 initial decisions were made on applications from Afghanistan nationals.

As at 31 Dec 2022, 115 Hong Kong nationals had been awaiting an initial decision for more than 6 months while 11 had been waiting 6 months or less (main applicants only). Please note that any further breakdowns in wait time are not published.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of Hong Kong asylum seekers are in temporary accommodation; and what proportion of those have no access to Wi-Fi.

Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth

As of 10/03/2023, there are 52 Asylum Seekers in the Asylum Support Scheme with a Hong Kong nationality out of a total 108,700 Asylum Seekers. 22 of these 52 are currently in temporary accommodation.

All service users are entitled to access Wi-Fi wherever it is available with no restrictions placed on them accessing these services by the Home Office.

In 2022, 17 initial decisions were made on applications from Hong Kong nationals, 4 initial decisions were made on applications from Ukrainian nationals and 1,842 initial decisions were made on applications from Afghanistan nationals.

As at 31 Dec 2022, 115 Hong Kong nationals had been awaiting an initial decision for more than 6 months while 11 had been waiting 6 months or less (main applicants only). Please note that any further breakdowns in wait time are not published.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average processing time was for asylum applications made by people from Hong Kong from the initial claim to the outcome in the latest period for which data is available.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

This data for average processing times is not held in a reportable format, not routinely published, and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost as it requires a manual search through individual records.

The Home Office does publish data on the number of asylum applications awaiting an initial decision by duration, for main applicants only. This data can be found at Asy_04 of the published Immigration Statistics:

List of tables - GOV.UK

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1118222/asylum-summary-sep-2022-tables.ods

Further detailed asylum and resettlement data sets, filtered by nationality can be found:

List of tables - GOV.UK

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/asylum-and-resettlement-datasets

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assistance they are providing to those who have fled Hong Kong and are claiming asylum status in the UK; and of those applicants, how many are women.

Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth

The UK has a proud record of providing protection for people who need it.