Select committee: Home Affairs Committee
Conclusion 11
Second Report - The UK’s offer of visa and settlement routes for residents of Hong Kong
Published 7 Jul 2021
Paragraph 87
Addressed to Home Office
Home Affairs Committee The UK’s offer of visa and settlement routes for residents of Hong Kong All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
We accept the principle that individuals who benefit from immigration should contribute towards the costs of essential UK services and we also welcome the fact that, when designing this visa route, the Government set out to increase its accessibility by setting a low fee for the applicant. However we are concerned that the upfront nature and scale of the immigration health surcharge will not be affordable for some BN(O) visa holders and particularly for young people. The Home Secretary has described the route as a proportionate response to a specific situation: we therefore recommend that, as a proportionate further step, the Government introduce either a means-tested fee waiver for Hong Kongers to whom the cost is a significant barrier to protection or flexibilities around delayed or reduced payment where appropriate.
From: Home Affairs Committee, Second Report - The UK’s offer of visa and settlement routes for residents of Hong Kong (HC 191), paragraph 87, 7 July 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 10 September 2021 (deadline 6 September 2021).