Connie Law and her family moved from their home of Hong Kong to Manchester, England, in 2021 after Beijing imposed a stringent national security law on the former British colony. Many families made similar moves in search of greater freedom for their children as authorities clamped down on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, an action officials said restored order from chaos.
The UK provided a pathway to citizenship for Hong Kongers through the Hong Kong British National (Overseas)—or BN(O)—program, which requires five years of residency plus language and financial sufficiency requirements before allowing them to apply for permanent residency. After one year of permanent residency, they can apply for citizenship. Canada and Australia offered similar immigration pathways.
Yet as Law and many of the 170,000 other Hong Kong immigrants in the UK reach the five-year mark, new proposed requirements for permanent residency applicants—including an increased English proficiency—could make it impossible for some Hong Kongers to stay in their new home.
At the Chinese church in Manchester where Law is the assistant minister, she said many congregants would not be able to reach the proposed conditions of “upper intermediate” English—equivalent to university entrance level—and an annual income of more than £12,570 (about $16,870) for three to five years. Annual earnings over that amount are subject to income tax. Unveiled in November, the proposed regulations were part of the UK’s plan to restrict the influx of migrants.
“Everyone is scared and worried” that the proposal will jeopardize their immigration prospects, Law said.
After complaints from Hong Kong immigrants, the British government confirmed in mid-March that those on the BN(O) route will not face changes to their English requirements, whereas other categories of immigrants will be subject to the stricter language standard starting in March 2027. But it remains unclear how the government will proceed with the proposed income requirement.
Hong Kong pastors ministering in the UK describe this latest upheaval in the immigration process as disheartening while also seeing the ways God is continually teaching their community to trust in him instead of worldly governments—even those friendly to Hong Kongers’ democratic ideals.
When news broke that the UK government was seeking to raise the bar for immigration, many Hong Kong immigrants became troubled, depressed, and tearful, said Wong Siu-yung, a preacher at various Chinese churches in the UK. Some found it unfair that the UK would alter the terms to the immigration pathway they had agreed to.
Wong, who is in his early 50s, said the tougher language requirement would be challenging for him; he would need to work hard to improve his conversational English.
This is not Wong’s first immigration setback. He initially moved to Taiwan during Hong Kong authorities’ crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in 2019 and 2020. He worried about arrest as he helped spearhead a Christian declaration that Beijing considered sedition. After discovering Taiwan’s changing immigration requirements effectively barred him and his wife from gaining permanent residency there, they emigrated to the UK in 2022.
Living in Nottinghamshire, England, Wong currently works at a warehouse in addition to preaching. He also had jobs in pharmaceutical packaging, sandwich production, and as a sushi chef, so meeting the proposed income requirement would not be a problem for him.
But immigration “isn’t just about one person, we’re a family,” said Wong, referring to his wife, who would not satisfy the income criterion. Because it is hard for Hong Kong immigrants to find jobs in the UK on par with what they did in Hong Kong, they often resort to blue-collar work, Wong explained. But his wife cannot take up physically strenuous employment due to chronic rheumatoid arthritis.
Critics of the income stipulation say it is an unreasonable demand for certain groups such as caregivers, students, and retirees. Hong Kong Watch, a UK-based rights organization, surveyed 2,000 Hong Kongers under the BN(O) plan and found only 38 percent of the respondents said they could satisfy the income requirement. It also found that only 28 percent of the participants were confident in reaching the proposed upper intermediate English level.
Faced with the prospect that new immigration rules could upend their lives, YouTubers have created videos to inform fellow immigrants about the latest updates on the BN(O) plan. Hong Kong immigrants have also lobbied their members of Parliament to urge the British government to exempt them from possible immigration changes. In Nottinghamshire, Wong and about 500 other Hong Kongers signed a petition in November addressed to their parliamentarian.
As a follow-up, about 60 of them met with that member of Parliament in mid-January in the town of Worksop to express their concerns over the proposed immigration requirements. One couple said that raising the English standard to upper intermediate would force them to divorce to ensure their children have a future in the UK. The wife’s English falls below the proposed standard enough that she would need to return to Hong Kong, while her English-proficient husband would remain in the UK with their children.
Other immigrants said they would return to Hong Kong if the British government abruptly enacted the proposed requirements, according to Law. While Law has already applied for permanent residency under the previous requirements in March, she noted the difficulty Hong Kongers in the UK face in returning home.
For instance, if her family had to return, her eighth-grade daughter wouldn’t be able to catch up to the Chinese standard at a local Hong Kong school, so Law would need to send her to a more expensive international school. Law and her husband would struggle to afford school tuition, secure a job, and find suitable housing, as they’ve already sold their Hong Kong property.
Still, Law sees immigration-related challenges as opportunities for spiritual growth. Some non-Christian immigrants came to faith in the UK after finding community and support from the church. And within Law’s Christian immigrant community, believers encourage each other to have more faith in God.
“We’ve already been through big trials, going from not finding a job to finding one, not adapting to English to persevering through many difficulties, so our faith has grown a bit and that lets us have faith to keep enduring,” she said.
Hong Konger Anne Ngai and her family also applied for permanent residency in March. Ngai, a youth pastor at a Chinese church in London, noted that some of her church members have decided to return to Hong Kong due to their inability to adjust to living in the new country. Others struggle with doubts that they can fulfill potentially more stringent immigration requirements. Weighing on many immigrants’ minds is the question of “Should I return [to Hong Kong] or remain not knowing if I can finally stay here?” Ngai said.
When she lived in the comfortable familiarity of Hong Kong, Ngai felt she had life under control. But since moving to a foreign country and dealing with countless new challenges–like getting a driver’s license, sorting trash, getting her boiler fixed, and navigating the subway system without internet access underground–she sees more clearly how God protects and provides for her. “God is very true and real,” she said.
Back in Nottinghamshire, Wong said that even moving to the UK is not a full escape from Beijing’s influence. In January, the UK government, under the ruling left-wing Labor Party, allowed Beijing to build a “mega-embassy” in London despite opposition from activists who fear the site could facilitate surveillance on dissidents.
As he and his wife face hurdle after hurdle on their immigration journey, Wong has learned that perseverance in faith is crucial. He pointed to 1 Corinthians 10:13—“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be temptedbeyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” In the context of the Israelites’ failure to remain obedient to God, Wong noted the way out that God provides to believers is not necessarily a quick, easy escape, but rather perseverance itself.
He also clings to the importance of living in the present as expressed in Ecclesiastes 3. Rather than worrying excessively about the future and things outside one’s control, “in the present, you can discover the Lord’s grace, you can see the Lord work,” Wong said. The present is part of eternity, he said, and even food and family are part of God’s eternal graces.
“When what’s ahead is so uncertain and the world is so chaotic and broken,” Wong said, “we have to hold on to these things so we know we are now in eternity and the Lord has not abandoned us.”
