Policy paper

Response to the ICIBI report 'An inspection of the Hong Kong British National (Overseas) Visa Route' (April 2022 to June 2022)

Published 8 November 2022

This was published under the 2022 to 2024 Sunak Conservative government

The Home Office is grateful to the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) and his time for the comprehensive report into the Hong Kong BN(O) Route.

This inspection examined the efficiency and effectiveness of the Hong Kong BN(O) Route and found this to provide an efficient service with most applicants benefiting from a fully digital experience. We are grateful for the ICIBI’s engagement with stakeholders, customers and officials who operate the Hong Kong BN(O) route. 

The Home Office has carefully considered the report along with its recommendations. The three recommendations contained in the report are accepted in full and work is already underway to deliver against these recommendations. 

The Home Office should:

1. Adult dependent relative applications: Develop a clear plan with timescales to resolve the 600+ adult dependent relative applications currently on hold.

1.1 Accepted

1.2 The necessary steps have now been taken to resolve adult dependent relative applications made under the Hong Kong BN(O) Route and UKVI have begun decision-making against this cohort. UKVI will decide the outstanding, on hold applications as a matter of priority but in any event no later than the end of the calendar year (2022).

2. Within 3 months, publish quarterly data on performance against the service standard for processing applications Provide an indication of the expected processing time for Hong Kong BN(O) applications on the GOV.UK page.

2.1 Accepted

2.2 Work against this recommendation is underway and this data will be included in the regular quarterly Home Office transparency publication that covers visa service standard performance. However, the timeline to deliver this is dependent on a wider set of changes to our management information systems. This means the first time the data can be included will be in the February 2023 publication, although data will be published retrospectively at this point.

Expected visa waiting times are published on GOV.uk for applications raised inside and outside of the UK. Customers are provided further detail as to when a decision may take longer to reach.

3. Capturing and sharing best practice: Record and share lessons learned from the introduction of the Hong Kong BN(O) visa route for the benefit of other Home Office departments when reviewing or introducing new routes at pace.

3.1 Accepted

3.2 Prior to the inspection, the Home Office worked with colleagues across the Migration and Borders system to capture best practice and lessons learned following the launch of the Hong Kong BN(O) route. As is noted in the Inspection report, the design and implementation of the Hong Kong BN(O) route was itself informed by lessons learned from the EU Settlement Scheme.

3.3 The Home Office continues to deliver new routes and make changes to existing routes for legal migration using lessons learned from the Hong Kong BN(O) route. 

On 20 July 2022, the Home Office published the New Plan for Immigration: legal migration and border control strategy, which sets out more information on the Government’s ambition for these new and reformed routes. The strategy notes that the Home Office will enable more customers to experience a fully digital journey in their interactions with the Home Office, building on the services already provided to many customers on the EU Settlement Scheme and Hong Kong BN(O) route.

3.4 As the Hong Kong BN(O) route approaches 2-years in operation, the Home Office will conduct a further review of best practice and lessons learned on the route which will occur no later than the end of the calendar year (2022).