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Under the new rules, residents without an HKSAR passport will need to apply for an additional document of identity for visa purposes from the Immigration Department for international travel. The government said on Friday that the process could take about five days and that “possibly very few” people would be affected.
In a reply to a Post inquiry on Monday, a department spokesman said it did not maintain statistics on how many people would be affected. He declined to answer a question on how easy or difficult the process of applying for the additional document of identity might be for members of ethnic minority groups.
A social worker who has been assisting hundreds, if not thousands, in the South Asian community said they would be left without a legitimate travel document.
“All of the South Asians with only BN(O)s – Indians, Pakistanis, Nepalese – that is who will suffer the most,” said the social worker, who asked to remain anonymous.
Adeel Malik, 36, was born in Hong Kong with a mixed background of Pakistani and Chinese roots but holds British citizenship. The founder of the Muslim Council of Hong Kong, Malik said his family members and many of his friends only held BN(O) passports. They were uncertain what the new rule meant for them and were anxious to learn what their options were. Some were considering leaving, including a few of his family members who were looking at moving to Britain.
“This feeling of being stateless has always been there for BN(O) passport holders, but this has been the final straw,” he said.
London unveiled a new visa last July in the wake of Beijing’s imposition of the national security law, offering a potential pathway to citizenship to 5.4 million Hongkongers eligible for BN(O) status.
In retaliation, Beijing announced it would stop recognising the passports as travel and identification documents. But most of the qualifying residents do not rely on the passports for travel, as they have local ones.
But Malik felt members of ethnic minority groups were being squeezed in “the political dogfight between Britain and Beijing”. Without any clarification from the government, he worried that restrictions might only increase for them.
“Hong Kong is what I consider home and I want to live here and give back to the city the best I can,” he said. “But at the end of the day, if we aren’t able to get SAR passports, are we really given a choice?”
The process of obtaining a city passport had proven frustrating for some as the officers were not required to explain why applicants were rejected, he said. Some residents raised in Hong Kong and fluent in Cantonese would be turned down, while others born elsewhere and unable to speak the language were accepted.
One 55-year-old woman, who is a fourth-generation Indian born in the city and holds only a BN(O) passport, said one prospective employer turned her down on Sunday over concerns about her ability to travel to mainland China. Asking to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of her work, the woman said she found it more difficult to find a job since the rule was introduced.
The BN(O) passport was her sole travel document as she was never entitled to an Indian passport. The woman’s father and grandfather were both born in Hong Kong. Her husband and sons all have Malaysian passports.
Getting a local passport is one of her few options going forward, but she feared the application process could take months – as opposed to the usual days for those of Chinese ethnicity – and would also require a pledge of allegiance to the city.
She said the challenge was not just the ambiguity of the new rules, but also the discrimination ethnic minority groups faced when dealing with immigration authorities.
The government needed to adopt what she called a more sensible policy, she said.
“If I go for the UK route, I understand why I should be penalised. But if not, how can a blanket prohibition be put on my passport?” she asked.
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