“You are seen as a friend and they don’t care where you come from” - story of Wing
A friendly neighbourhood is important for migrants settling in (Photo by Nina Strehl on Unsplash)
As our recent survey about BN(O) Hong Kongers reveals, almost all respondents (99%) said they intended to apply for settlement and also for British citizenship. Wing is probably one of them - just 2 years since they have arrived in the UK, Wing and his wife have already passed the resettlement (Life in UK) test. The friendly environment is an important factor to enable him to enjoy his new life in the UK.
“The people here are friendly and pure, they are friendly to everyone. You are seen as a friend and they don’t care where you come from. I send my child to the school and the parents of his classmates are friendly.”
Wing arrived in the UK in June 2021, as Covid was coming to an end and he says that was helpful timing for settling and finding a job quickly. He and his wife chose Manchester over London as they knew it would be a lower cost of living and the research showed that schools would be good for their primary school age son. After an initial settling in period, Wing applied for and got a job in an Amazon warehouse within five days of starting his search.
Playing football is a new hobby picked by Wing after moving to Manchester (Photo by Jannik Skorna on Unsplash)
He is now in his third job since settling in the UK in July 2021. He moved after a year from his warehouse role into a forklift driver job, before then taking a role driving a supermarket van. Wing is content doing this for now as he loves driving and travel. He also picked up some new habits like playing football and striking out for walks in the peak district.
He is also fully aware that for an office role he will need to improve his English further, which he is keen to do both to give him options in the future and also to help with making some local friends, something that he admits is challenging.
“For my current job, simple English is enough. If I want to work in an office, I think my English is too simple and I need to study more. My wife didn’t know any English, she is now at college, a free-of-charge one that is teaching her English and how to find a job. I find her English has improved very fast in this year. She is not so confident, she still struggles to communicate with the local people. She can sometimes read the storybooks with my son and before that she couldn’t read any English. She wants to be able to talk with local people fluently. She wants to be engaged with the community and for that she knows she needs English.”
Our survey also finds the lack of confidence in speaking English is one of the main barriers for Hong Kongers to get a job that can utilise their skills and experience. Respondents also said that improving their English would help them better integrate into the local community. In the Welcoming Committee’s report HK to UK: Hong Kongers’ new lives in Britain, we recommend expanding the current provision of English teaching to all levels of ability and raising awareness of English teaching available with BN(O)s.
Further readings:
About the Welcoming Committee for Hong Kongers and the government’s Welcome Programme
The Welcoming Committee for Hong Kongers has been set up in response to the BN(O) visa scheme. It brings together the ‘welcomers’ and the ‘welcomed’ and helps coordinate efforts across the UK’s nations and regions from civil society, communities, business, education and government to support Hong Kongers to settle in the UK. It also conducts research to inform policy, share best practice and support organisations to make their voices heard. The Welcoming Committee is hosted at independent think tank British Future, which works for a confident and inclusive Britain, welcoming and fair to all.
Through the Welcome Programme, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is providing funding to 42 locally based organisations around the UK to ensure that local grass roots community groups can meet the needs of the local Hong Kongers in the communities where they are based.