According to the Financial Times, British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab has promised to extend the visa rules for those in Hong Kong who have a special British passport, BNO, intended for Hong Kong residents who lived in the region when it was handed over to China in 1997.
Raab says this will happen unless China withdraws the disputed security law for Hong Kong, which on Thursday received green light at the Chinese People's Congress.
First allowed to work or study for twelve months"If China continues on the path and implement the Security Act, we will allow the holders of BNO passports to come to the UK and apply to work and study for twelve months and that in itself opens up to citizenship," says Raab.
Residents who have BNO status today are entitled to seek British consular assistance, but are not British citizens.
A Downing Street spokesperson tells the Financial Times that "We have been very clear that security laws run the risk of undermining the" one country, two systems "principle.
This principle, which was adhered to in the transfer from the UK to China in 1997, means that Hong Kong - and also neighboring Macao, which was previously Portuguese - is partly self-governing, including greater freedom of press and expression.