In recent years, there has been a wave of immigration in Hong Kong. Leung Chun-ying, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and former chief executive, said in a radio interview the day before yesterday (17th) that those who live in the UK with British National (Overseas) passports (BNO) are not immigrants, but "immigrants". These individuals have not been heard to hand over their SAR passports or ID cards.
The phenomenon mentioned by Leung Chun-ying stems from a series of flexible handling of the nationality issue of Hong Kong people by both China and the United Kingdom in order to stabilize the hearts of Hong Kong people before the handover. Even if they have moved overseas for a long time, because the current system in Hong Kong does not have a strict definition of "immigrant", as long as they do not voluntarily renounce their Chinese nationality for one day, they are still regarded as Chinese citizens.
After 30 years of changes, the issue of nationality has turned into a political contradiction. Some Hong Kong people have not been able to adapt to the new political environment after the National Security Law. They continue to retain their status as permanent residents of Hong Kong and continue to enjoy the rights of Hong Kong residents after moving overseas. , was questioned as "both right and left".
If we want to eliminate this gray area, it is actually very involved.
Lai Tung-kwok, a member of the Legislative Council of the New People's Party, who served as the Director of Immigration and the Secretary for Security, said that he agrees with Leung Chun-ying in principle, and will question why immigrants leave Hong Kong but are reluctant to give up their right of abode in Hong Kong and Chinese nationality, but in reality the provisions of the Basic Law And the Immigration Ordinance has a clear definition of the right of abode in Hong Kong. If it is to be changed, it will involve extremely large projects and have a great impact.
Nationality issue involves political allegiance Singapore does not allow dual citizenship
In the era of globalization, the governments of many countries will directly or indirectly allow the existence of "dual nationality".
Politically, dual nationality is a way for some countries to increase their attraction to local and overseas elites, allowing these people to retain an "escape door" and choose where they think is suitable to live at any time, attracting them to take root.
However, this can also lead to political contradictions. For example, if the person involved in some cases holds dual nationality, both parties claim that the person is a citizen of their own country. will raise doubts.
On the issue of dual nationality, some countries will enforce it more strictly. For example, in Singapore, the local "Nationality Law" allows foreigners to become naturalized through immigration, but at the same time it is clearly stipulated that people over the age of 22 shall not hold dual nationality and must renounce all other nationalities. Otherwise, you will lose your Singaporean citizenship.
This policy is related to the historical background, because Singapore relies heavily on foreign talents to build the country, but at the same time, due to the short history of the founding of the country and the weak national foundation, citizens cannot be allowed to "eat two tea ceremony". Leave a "back road" to leave.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong once described Singapore citizenship as "a commitment far deeper than 'getting a new passport'".
In 1996, the National People's Congress explained that foreign passports can be regarded as travel documents and do not affect Chinese nationality.
In Hong Kong, due to changes in the political environment during the transition period after Sino-British negotiations, the British government issued BNOs for Hong Kong people in batches since 1987; Since then, there has been a large-scale immigration wave in Hong Kong.
Since the "Chinese Nationality Law" does not allow dual nationality, in fact, many Hong Kong people held overseas passports before the handover. Once the outflow of funds and talents from Hong Kong continues, it is not conducive to the smooth transition of the handover.
As a result, China has leniently dealt with the nationality issue of Hong Kong people.
In 1996, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress pointed out that all persons born in Chinese territory and of Chinese descent have Chinese nationality, and their foreign passports will be regarded as travel documents for continued use when traveling abroad.
If their nationality changes, they "may report to the authorities in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region that accept nationality applications with valid documents."
In other words, the central government adopts the "opening one's eyes and closing one's eyes" approach, as long as Hong Kong people who have not declared a change of nationality are also treated as Chinese citizens.
According to Wang Fengchao, the former deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office and the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government, the right of abode for Hong Kong permanent residents of Chinese nationality is "once possessed, it will last forever".
More than 100,000 people apply for residence in the UK through BNO, but the law does not define "immigration"
In the early days of the return, this approach has been without major problems.
However, with the changes in the political environment before and after the Occupy Movement in 2014, the local political contradictions in Hong Kong have become increasingly acute, and the relationship between China and European and American countries has deteriorated. British comments on the political situation in Hong Kong have increased, causing dissatisfaction from the Chinese side.
The turmoil of the amendments in 2019, the direct promulgation and implementation of the National Security Law in Hong Kong in 2020, and the accompanying series of political events have directly detonated this contradiction that has been buried for more than 20 years.
The UK accuses the deteriorating human rights situation in Hong Kong and violates the Sino-British Joint Declaration.
In January last year, in response to the political situation in Hong Kong, the United Kingdom relaxed the qualifications for BNO to apply for naturalization, allowing Hong Kong people to apply for naturalization in a "5+1" period, triggering the central and SAR governments to announce that they would no longer recognize BNO as a travel document.
As of the fourth quarter of last year, a total of 104,000 people have applied for residency in the UK through the BNO.
However, there is a gray area that has not yet been addressed: although the central and SAR governments no longer recognize BNO, BNO is actually a "naturalization qualification" for the UK.
However, there is no household registration system in Hong Kong. In theory, Hong Kong permanent residents do not need to declare their reasons when they leave Hong Kong. Even if they have left Hong Kong for a long period of time or even naturalized in other countries, as long as they do not declare to the Immigration Department, they can continue to hold Hong Kong ID cards and SAR passports.
In fact, the government has no way of knowing whether they will return to Hong Kong in the future, so Leung Chun-ying's statement does have some truth - the current Hong Kong law does not strictly define "immigration" at all.
Strict handling is very involved
The above phenomenon will lead to other political disputes: in reality, many Hong Kong people who have left Hong Kong and emigrated overseas in the past two years are dissatisfied with the political situation in Hong Kong, and their political stance is pro-democracy, but they are not concerned about the prospects for their personal career development overseas. They may not be completely sure, so they tend to keep their identity as Hong Kongers and leave a "backward path". If Hong Kong's political environment improves in the future or its career development in other places is not as ideal, there is a chance to return to Hong Kong.
In the eyes of some pro-establishment factions, these Hong Kong people are "yellow people" who have "left Hong Kong" and will question why they can still receive Hong Kong benefits, such as the electronic consumer coupons distributed in the past two years.
However, if the government wants to strictly investigate dual nationality, there are at least two potential risks: First, there are hundreds of thousands of people in Hong Kong who hold valid BNOs. According to estimates by the British Home Office, as many as 2.9 million people may be eligible to move to the UK through the BNO scheme.
If a large number of Hong Kong people are really forced to "choose one of two", it will inevitably cause shocks in Hong Kong, especially in today's political environment; Questions about holders of foreign residency rights should be dealt with strictly if they are to be dealt with together?
Li Dongguo: As long as the "Chinese citizen" status is not lost, it is still eligible
Lai Dongguo explained to the author that the "right of abode in Hong Kong" does not have a long history in Hong Kong.
After the handover, Article 24 of the Basic Law and the Immigration Ordinance have clearly defined "Hong Kong permanent residents". The first two are "Chinese citizens born in Hong Kong before or after the establishment of the Chinese citizens who have ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for more than seven consecutive years before or after the establishment of the Special Administrative Region".
Under this definition, as long as the person is still a Chinese citizen and has not voluntarily applied for a change of nationality, he is eligible, and he will not lose his permanent resident status due to emigration, regardless of whether the Hong Kong identity card and the SAR passport held by him have expired.
Lai Tung-kwok pointed out that Leung Chun-ying's statement was analyzed from a "moral point of view", and he would agree in principle, and he would also question why he could still hold Hong Kong resident status after he had decided to leave Hong Kong permanently: "But the legal provisions have been written very clearly. Of course, no words can be changed forever. There are amendments to the Basic Law, but when is it going to be changed? There is no absolute "yes" or "no". If you want to change, you have to think very clearly about the impact of the change and the impact of the change.”
Some people in the establishment pointed out that when the British side relaxed the BNO naturalization regulations in January last year, many people offered countermeasures, including reducing political rights such as the right to vote and not being able to hold public office. Hong Kong people's right of permanent residence in Hong Kong, but the above suggestions were not adopted in the end. China only announced that it would no longer recognize BNO as a travel document and identity certificate, which was regarded as a relatively moderate countermeasure.
The person pointed out that BNO's new plan is "5+1", that is, Hong Kong people will not be officially granted British citizenship until the sixth year.
Lai Tung-kwok said that he agrees with Leung Chun-ying's question in principle, but the legal definition of "Hong Kong permanent resident" is very clear.
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Immigration consultant: If the government wants to strictly investigate and believe that it has the ability
Zhang Jiaxi, director of Huankai Immigration Consultants, said that according to the Nationality Law of the People's Republic of China, citizens are prohibited from having dual nationality. If Chinese citizens want to immigrate to other places, they must first give up their national status.
Zhang pointed out that some Chinese citizens may have two passports. If they are found to have different information when entering the country, or if they are found out after comparing their passports and visas, they will be instructed to "choose one of the two" immediately and give up one of the passports.
As for Hong Kong, Zhang pointed out that the British government allowed dual nationality before the handover. It is believed that a large number of citizens have two passports. After the handover, China's Nationality Law will apply to Hong Kong. If the Hong Kong government strictly enforces it, it is estimated that many people will be involved. , so it depends on how to deal with it in the future. He also pointed out, "If you don't hold public office and don't take oath, then you won't be able to find out (dual nationality)? This department has reservations, because China and the SAR government want to investigate, I believe it is capable of doing it.”
Zhang emphasized that the right of abode and naturalization are two different things. Anyone can immigrate to several countries, but after taking an oath to become naturalized, they have the opportunity to violate China's "Nationality Law". On the contrary, many Hong Kong people are popular immigration countries, such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Canada, etc. are all welcome to hold dual citizenship.
Leung Chun-ying questioned that BNOs who arrived in the UK and Hong Kong did not return their ID cards: they just immigrated to non-immigrants and wanted to stay in the back. Birth must meet two major requirements BNO online application for teaching BNO VISA expanded to 1997 Hong Kong people born after 1997 have accumulated so many applications, one thing should not be ignored
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