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UK offers possible path for BNO passport holders..

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  1. #21

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    Oct 2019
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    One of our pals recently asked me to help her get her BNO passport, 'just in case', and she got it a few months ago... she is 40ish and her daughter has just started secondary school.

    She is an office clerk... I guess she earns under 15k HKD per month but she has gov. housing...

    Her English is not great but she has a good foundation and would learn quickly here... her daughter would be relatively fluent after a few months of school...

    I feel she might be a little worse off here financially... if she lived in the north, she could rent an okay 2 bedroom house for 3000HKD, but I guess she's paying 1000HKD now, although that's for a tiny studio...

    Groceries would be cheaper, public transport more expensive...

    She's asking me for advice... part of me says 'go for it'... but, you know, nobody should think these decisions aren't complicated or that the people affected are normally mobile (economically/language/experience)...

    I feel like Joey could end up quite lonely and I have visions of her daughter drinking cider in the park... I wouldn't want my kids going to state schools in the UK...and I wouldn't want to be on minimum wage her either... rock and hard place springs to mind...

    Coolboy likes this.

  2. #22

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    Mar 2020
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    2,128
    Quote Originally Posted by Viktri:
    The benefits to living in Taipei at first glance also reflect some of the challenges. Food/etc are relatively inexpensive because wages in Taipei are low. Real estate is actually quite expensive given the wages. Amenities at Mandarin Oriental are great, but there's a sharp drop off and discrepancy between the wealthy and normal citizens.

    City folk are great but those Taiwanese from outside of Taipei have a more villager mindset/mannerisms (just like in HK, really anywhere, there's always an urban/rural divide).

    Long-term economic prospects are fairly poor and there's a significant underground (night life) economy that is very, very sad.

    If you have wealth/job that isn't tied to the economy in Taiwan then you should be living fairly comfortably but if you need to live and work like a local then moving from a big city like HK to somewhere in Taiwan will be challenging - and really it would be for anyone who's conditioned to live in HK.

    edit: even for outdoorsy people that enjoy hiking, the climate and mosquitoes are a real challenge - significantly more difficult to deal with imo than HK.

    That's funny, I could pretty well copy and paste this to describe Hong Kong to people coming over...

    1) Expensive real estate and huge income disparity...Check
    2) Difference between urban and village living Check
    3)Long term economic prospect uncertain Check
    4) Living and working like a local very uncomfortable for expat Check
    5) Climate challenging Check
    Mr Chips and Skyhook like this.

  3. #23

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    Jan 2010
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    6,452
    Original Post Deleted
    Wouldn't that be meddling in the UK's internal affairs?

  4. #24

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    Jun 2018
    Location
    UK/HK
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    My wife had a BNO passport when we met 10 years ago. It did mean she could stay in the UK for periods of up to 6 months but other than that was pretty useless. When we married we had to jump through all the hoops of getting her permanent residence in the UK which took several years. The BNO passport did not help this process in any way. So I hope they change the rules to make it easier for those people who want to leave HK and live in the UK.


  5. #25

    Join Date
    Nov 2014
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    458
    Quote Originally Posted by Aramis:
    That's funny, I could pretty well copy and paste this to describe Hong Kong to people coming over...

    1) Expensive real estate and huge income disparity...Check
    2) Difference between urban and village living Check
    3)Long term economic prospect uncertain Check
    4) Living and working like a local very uncomfortable for expat Check
    5) Climate challenging Check
    that’s why HK pays high salaries to expats despite the low taxes
    Mr Chips likes this.

  6. #26

    What countermeasures can be taken? Ban British citizens from entering China or Hong Kong or Macau?

    Peaky likes this.

  7. #27

    Join Date
    Jun 2017
    Posts
    94

    It doesn't seem like the number 300,000 is as meaningful as the media are making it sound. 300,000 is just the number of people with a current, unexpired BNO passport. More relevant is the number of people that *ever* had a BNO passport (since they keep BNO status for life), and that's more like 3 million.

    I agree the details of this scheme will be important. The most sweeping would be if they grant BNOs unconditional work visas and allow their partner/children to get dependant visas. But equally consistent with the announcement would be a far more limited policy change, e.g. work visas tied to specific professional-level salaried jobs, and no ability to bring dependants. Either way, it does seem to exclude most people aged 18-23 (as their age means they are neither BNOs in their own right nor minor children of BNOs).

    drumbrake likes this.

  8. #28

    Join Date
    Aug 2006
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    7,517
    Quote Originally Posted by junichitsuyo:
    What countermeasures can be taken? Ban British citizens from entering China or Hong Kong or Macau?
    Chinese visas might be difficult to get / more expensive.

  9. #29

  10. #30

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