Middle-aged British National Overseas (BNO) migrants from Hong Kong face ‘pensions crisis’ in UK

Middle-aged Hongkongers who fled the territory to live in the UK risk being left without a pension unless visa rules are changed, the Government has been warned.

A campaign has been launched to persuade Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, to alter the terms of British National Overseas (BNO) visas amid fears that many who escaped Hong Kong’s authoritarian crackdown in recent years are facing a looming crisis in retirement.

The scheme was launched in 2021 to create a pathway to British citizenship for Hongkongers who were born in the territory before Britain handed it back to China in 1997. 

It was introduced in response to China’s harsh national security law and has since been expanded.

Many of the at least 150,000 residents who took up the offer and came to Britain are in their mid fifties or older, and are willing to work.

But citizens who reach retirement age, which from March 2028 will be 67, can only qualify for a state pension if they have made National Insurance contributions for at least ten years.

A coalition of five campaign groups have pointed out in a letter to the Home Secretary that, under current rules, migrants from Hong Kong could work for the best part of a decade, all while paying National Insurance, and yet still miss out on a state pension if they are forced to retire before ten years.

The potential crisis is worsened by the Hong Kong Government’s move to prevent many BNO migrants from accessing pensions they accrued in the territory.

Campaigners have asked Ms Braverman to allow Hong Kong citizens, especially those approaching retirement age, to make voluntary payments to top up their contributions to ten years.