The right approach to Hong Kongers could help reset Britain’s approach to immigration

Sunder Katwala is Director of British Future, an independent thinktank, which houses the Welcoming Committee for Hong Kongers.

The British National (Overseas) visa scheme opened in January 2021, allowing people from Hong Kong to live, work and study in Britain.

The arrival of the Hong Kongers may prove to be one of the most important British migration stories of the 2020s – and an opportunity to reset how we think about making migration and integration work in the UK.

This new visa route was the first big migration choice of post-Brexit Britain. That it was a popular decision with both politicians and the public shows how having control of immigration policy can sometimes mean choosing to say yes, rather than no, to migration.

Nobody knows how many Hong Kongers will come to Britain. More that 100,000 have already applied for the new visa, broadly in line with the Home Office’s estimate of around 300,000 arrivals over five years. Predicting future migration flows can be difficult, however: a central reason for the loss of public confidence in the handling of EU migration after 2004 was government failure to anticipate, prepare for or respond quickly to the scale of arrivals.

It also matters that the Government has taken more proactive initial steps on Hong Kong than any previous wave of migration. This could be the foundation for a more positive approach to citizenship and integration more broadly.

Those who come from Hong Kong will be a diverse group, reflecting the different reasons why people migrate to Britain: to study and to work, to invest and to seek sanctuary and protection. Some Hong Kongers may have strong and established links in the UK, with little need for further official support. Others have felt forced to leave their homes, to an unfamiliar place, with little notice or preparation – and may have similar support needs to refugees who have claimed asylum. 

As Daniel Korski, Chair of the Welcoming Committee for Hong Kongers, says, “The real work starts now to make a success of helping Hong Kongers to settle in the UK”.  That can be about practical steps, such as finding work and somewhere to live; and while many Hong Kongers speak English, some may need advanced courses to secure jobs reflecting their qualifications and professional aspirations. It should be about the fullest opportunity to be part of our cultural and civic life.

Making welcoming work is a two-way street - it works best when it is an active partnership between the welcomers and the welcomed. That is how we can both maximise Hong Kongers’ contribution to Britain and their positive contact and engagement with the communities that they join. 

Migration over the decades since the Windrush has often been contested, as each wave arrives – but can also be seen as a story of how we eventually work out how we live together in the end.

Welcoming the Hong Kongers offers a chance to be proactive about migration and integration – and to choose to get it right from the start.

A version of this article first appeared in the New Statesman.