Since Canada launched the "lifeboat" to provide Hong Kong people with a path to permanent residence, at least 23,000 residence permits have been granted. But not everyone who boarded the "lifeboat" believed that Canada was the country they would later call "home." After a Hong Kong citizen journalist completed his master's degree in Canada, he felt that Canada was not suitable for him. In the 1980s, the UK revised the Nationality Act and created the BN(O) status, but today it has become a loophole in the BN(O) immigration policy, preventing tens of thousands of Hong Kong people from immigrating to the UK. This station asked the British Home Office whether it was aware of the loophole, but there was no reply as of press time.
According to figures disclosed to the media by the Canadian government, since Hong Kong people's "lifeboat" (Hong Kong Pathway) "fell overboard" in 2021, the authorities have granted a total of about 23,000 residence permits as of February this year, allowing Hong Kong people to meet certain conditions. Then apply for permanent residence. Many people who have organized trade unions, worked in the media industry, and even been released from prison under the National Security Law have chosen Canada as their "home." However, not every Hong Kong resident who "boards" plans to spend the rest of his life in Canada.
Zheng Leheng (Galileo) graduated from the journalism department of a British university in 2007. Since 2009, he has been working as a citizen journalist, witnessing through the lens many important moments in Hong Kong such as the anti-high-speed rail, the umbrella movement, and the anti-extradition bill. Even the recent economic and trade Three defendants in the national security case appeared in court in London, and Galileo was also seen rushing to the front line of the interview.
Canada's slow progress in approving visas makes Hong Kong residents vulnerable to "illegal status"
He and his wife will move to Vancouver, Canada in 2022. He recently completed a master's degree in journalism at the University of British Columbia and will hold a graduation ceremony at the end of May. However, graduating with a master's degree does not necessarily mean that you have a bright future and can live and work in peace and contentment. When he was about to wear the square hat again, he was facing even bigger troubles.
Galileo is now applying for Canada's Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP), Open Work Permit (OWP) and permanent residence, so that he and his wife can continue to stay in Canada legally. After Canada updated its lifeboat policy at the beginning of the month, the transitional open work visa was supposed to be the easiest way to get approved, but it turned out that there was a chance that things could go wrong.
Galileo said: "Now I have graduated, and my student visa will expire at the end of the year. Next, I have to apply for visa renewal, but in the middle, there are some... I can't say it's a blockage, but there are some troublesome problems. If I am stuck, I need to discuss it with the school. I may even need to tell some organizations or members of the Canadian Parliament, "There may be some obstacles and I need your help." If I apply in Canada, some cases are not approved even after half a year. It has not been approved. My visa expires at the end of the year. It is actually very dangerous. I have a chance of becoming without status (residing in Canada), but I cannot return to Hong Kong safely...because of the local immigration in Canada. The department didn’t seem to understand that Hong Kong people, OWPs, had some special circumstances, so they granted some leniency.”
Having lived in Canada and the UK, he thinks the UK is "more likely"
Living in Vancouver for two years, he experienced two couples falling into "winter depression" that turned into "trapped beast fighting", and also personally interviewed major controversial events in the community where he lived. Galileo, who has some experience living in London, feels that the UK is more suitable for him than Canada.
Galileo explained: "Although everyone has always said that there are many Hong Kong people in Canada, the UK has done really well in terms of social organizations. So if I go back to some community organizations, I have always said that I have done some regional work, community building, or reporting , news stories, or even policy research, I think the UK’s ‘possibilities’ are greater than Canada’s in the short term.”
Zheng Leheng described Canada’s current media ecosystem as being relatively poor compared to the rest of the world, so he hopes to move to the UK for the second time. However, he once tried to apply for a British National (Overseas) passport, but the British Home Office stated that he had "no status". Ironically, his brother applied for a visa to settle in the UK with a BN(O) passport.
The UK revised the Nationality Act in the 1980s, and Hong Kong residents born in the 1980s did not have British citizenship.
He said: "I think it was around the 1980s when the British Nationality Act was revised and the status of 'British National (Overseas)' was created. During this period, there were a group of children born in Hong Kong. At that time, their parents were The "wave of refugees" came to Hong Kong in the 1970s and 1980s. At that time, the children's parents had not naturalized British citizenship, and they just had a "Certificate of Identity" (CI)... According to my understanding, I did not have British citizenship when I was born. My family thought that I did not have British citizenship, so they did not apply for a British National (Overseas) passport for me before 1997. So now neither my wife nor I have a British National (Overseas) passport. My wife’s family should have failed to apply for her. .
As far as Galileo knows, at least 42,000 Hong Kong people may be facing a similar situation. Since the University of British Columbia meets the requirements of the British government, he has just completed his second master's degree and plans to work in the UK for two years through the "High Potential Individual Visa". He also hopes that the British government will revise its policy, but he The attitude is relatively cautious.
He believes: "In the past 20 years, everyone has made a lot of efforts on the issue of equal rights in BN(O). Suddenly, it was 'successful' overnight. It was very encouraging and exceeded our expectations. But there will be many special situations to deal with in the future, and I believe they will all It is a very long administrative and political effort, and I understand that it will take a long time to deal with it...it may be some policy or administrative errors or deficiencies that caused these problems, which is unfortunate."
This station asked the British Home Office whether it was aware of the existence of cases similar to Galileo's situation, whether the plan timetable has been revised, and how the authorities will handle such cases if they apply for a BN(O) visa, but no reply was received as of deadline.
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