When the British government introduced its British Nationals (Overseas), or BN(O), visas in 2021, it was easy to believe that the British government was rolling out the red carpet to a chosen class of “good migrants.” The British prime minister at the time, Boris Johnson, framed the decision as an act of profound responsibility to Hong Kongers experiencing political repression by China, and the Hong Kongers who arrived were on average more highly educated than the average British national.
However, real contact with the lives of some of the more than 120,000 people who have arrived in the U.K. through the BN(O) scheme paints a more complex picture. In particular, stats published within a report by the Welcoming Committee for Hong Kong and British Future last November point to some disheartening experiences in the job market, where temporary work and work that doesn’t match the skills of the workers was common.
Employment Statistics
The stats in question: Only 52% of those BN(O) Hong Kongers who are of working age were found to be employed (and this was worse for women), far below the U.K. national rate (75% right now, 75% at the time the report was published.) Around 20% of those who were employed were in temporary employment, against a national average of 6%. And of the more than 2,000 survey respondents on whom those figures are based, almost half said their jobs did not match their skills.
In other words, they may have been more likely to be middle class in terms of education and profession before they left Hong Kong, but once they arrived in the U.K., there are many who have ended up living precariously.
One reason for this is likely to be the use of agencies to find work fast and to get accustomed to British work culture and local English language usage, according to Heather Rolfe, co-author of the report mentioned above. One in five BN(O) Hongkongers is employed by an agency, versus around 5% of the U.K. working population, and Rolfe told Domino Theory younger people without the ability to purchase property were especially likely to have to follow this route.
Another explanation is a knowledge gap on behalf of employers. “Some employers don’t realize that [the BN(O) visa] gives the right to work. And it’s a permanent visa rather than a temporary visa,” Rolfe explained to Domino Theory on a video call. “[E]mployers are really worried about employing somebody who doesn’t have the right to work in the U.K., because they know what that means. Some sort of big fines [or] worse. And so they’re quite risk averse.”
Either way, beneath these explanations are some affecting individual stories. Two Hong Kongers we spoke to this week said that while they felt superficially welcome in the U.K., they had had work-based problems in line with those described in the report, based on either bureaucratic knowledge gaps or cultural or language barriers.
Downing Street Not Knowing Its Own Rules
Michael — an alias — came to the U.K. as the spouse of someone on the BN(O) visa and was a former civil servant in Hong Kong. In one instance, he had applied for a job within the British civil service and been invited to an interview at Downing Street. He had then taken a train to London for an interview, only to be emailed as they got off the train to check how long he had been a resident in the U.K. Although Michael said he had included this information in his application, after replying that he had only been in the U.K. for three months, the human resources department responded that they would have to cancel the interview because he didn’t meet the residency requirement for the position.
Michael now works partly on a “zero hours” — insecure — contract at a business school within a university and wondered if the lack of a permanent contract there reflected his visa status in some way.
Teaching in the U.K.: ‘The School Will Not Support Any Staff, You Have to Support Yourself’
A second Hong Konger we spoke to via video call, David — also an alias — has suffered even worse work experiences despite finding permanent, full-time work. After spending a year as a teacher at a state school and later working at an independent school, he said he was now “giving up” because of both poor pay and poor treatment. As well as finding it hard to connect personally with other staff because of language and culture differences, David was shocked by poor levels of student behavior and relayed a story about being pushed over by a student at the state school.
Reflecting on that incident, David said he had experienced nothing like this in 20 years as a teacher in Hong Kong and was only told after the incident that school policy was not to block doors in such circumstances. Asked if he felt they had received enough support from management, David said “the school will not support any staff, you have to support yourself.” Ge also said that a Telegram group of Hong Kong teachers in the U.K. he is involved in saw others in similar positions suggest they were not offered long-term contracts because they were seen as outsiders by management.
A current U.K. national teacher from a state school we spoke to about this treatment, who wished to remain anonymous to protect their job, confirmed it was common for foreign teachers coming in. “Kids treat them badly often due to language difficulty, middle management have to intervene, so they feel resentment towards the foreign teachers,” he said via written message. He also added that foreign teachers were treated with “a lot of condescension” by management, “Talking to the teacher as if they’re a badly behaved kid.”
The Overall Picture Is Mixed
To be sure, fleshing out these negative experiences is meant not to suggest there are not plenty of positive ones to be found, too. The Welcoming Committee for Hong Kong and British Future report found that the vast majority of Hongkongers intended to stay in the U.K. permanently. And Heather Rolfe added that there was “a huge amount of appreciation for what the U.K. Government has done just in enabling them to come over,” as well as successful engagement with a variety of welcoming services put into place. Even specific to work, the majority of respondents said they had felt either welcome or very welcome.
However, it is probably a necessary corrective to note that problems with Britain go beyond adapting to the weather, as has been the rosy picture presented in some reports.
“I try my best to make myself [able] to stay here permanently, but up to now I am not very confident that I can make it. I’m not sure about the future. At the moment I don’t think I have a life here I really enjoy … but I put all my effort and try my very best to do it. One thing I feel satisfied [with] is I find my son lived here and grow[s] up very well. He enjoyed [being] here,” David said.
Michael meanwhile, told us he would be open to moving elsewhere and that he “wouldn’t say that I feel welcome or not welcome. It’s just another place to live and work.” Worse assessments than that are very much possible, but it certainly leaves room for improvement on specific issues, too.
Note: The identities of the Hong Kongers cited in this article have been kept anonymous to protect their safety. We will publish a follow-up article on the way China’s political repression directly impacts Hong Kongers in the U.K. next month.
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