Hong Kong activists get UK visa criteria eased

Hong Kong people with convictions linked to China's crackdown on pro-democracy protests should not be blocked from UK visas if they are otherwise eligible, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has said.

Mahmood said there should be a presumption in favour of ensuring that convictions connected to participation in the 2019 protests do not prevent eligible people from accessing a visa.

Her comments were made in correspondence published on Wednesday by the UK parliament's human rights committee.

The committee had raised concerns after Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Wu Chi-wai was detained for several hours on arrival in Britain, where his family now lives. Wu was convicted of subversion under Hong Kong's security law and was released in June after five years in prison.

Committee chair Alex Kobel wrote to Mahmood highlighting Wu's case. Kobel said Wu was initially refused entry and later granted permission to stay in Britain for six months.

The UK-based advocacy group Hong Kong Watch welcomed Mahmood's comments and said it would keep working with the Home Office to ensure a formal process is established.

After Hong Kong's 2019 pro-democracy protests and a sweeping security law imposed the following year, Britain granted visas to more than 230,000 people from its former colony. Nearly 170,000 have moved to Britain, according to government figures.

Holders of British National Overseas passports, issued to Hong Kong people born before the July 1, 1997 handover to China, can apply for a UK visa that allows them to live and work in Britain for five years and then apply for citizenship.