global permanent resident options attracting families

Health officials reported 34,466 new Covid-19 cases on February 28, and the government could adopt a strict lockdown. The high infection rates could hinder those who had expected to go abroad, stakeholders have hinted.

Additionally, immigration schemes introduced by a number of countries during have impacted the demand for international education among families and students from Hong Kong. The UK introduced a new visa following what its said was breach of international law commitments by China after its government imposed the National Security Law in Hong Kong in 2020.

Director of Britannia StudyLink Samuel Chan has said that demand for UK independent and boarding schools has shifted, largely as a result of the new pathway.

Previously, 80% of parents were looking for traditional boarding school packages that would see their children integrating fully with British students.

“Now, parents accept that there are many more Chinese students in the UK so their concern has shifted to how their children are treated and what activities exist to help them mix with British students. There is also a stronger appetite for day places due to the British National (Overseas) initiative,” Chan said.

“In the past, virtually all our students from Hong Kong came to the UK as boarders”

“In the past, virtually all our students from Hong Kong came to the UK as boarders. The BNO scheme has changed the situation since families can now relocate to the UK and send their children to schools as day students. The day numbers have increased to roughly 20-30% of our enquiries.”

The BNO scheme for the UK was rolled out by the UK government in July 2021. Similar initiatives like Canada’s permanent residence pathway, Australia’s permanent residence visa streams and the US’s “temporary safe haven” were introduced in response to Beijing’s “crackdown” on democracy in the Chinese territory.

“There are obviously some families leaving from Hong Kong under different initiative schemes offered by different countries, especially the students who were studying in the international schools in Hong Kong,” a spokesperson LKL International Consulting Company HK told The PIE.

“US, UK, Australia, Canada are still the main destinations of overseas studies for Hong Kong students.”

According to Sherwood Wan, regional director – Asia (Pathways) at Oxford International Education Group, the numbers of enquiries of studying in the UK has been rising since UK offered the BNO scheme.

With Canada and Australia offering similar initiatives, Wan expects the numbers of family relocating to be increasing. “But this will not the case for just UK only, but also to the Australia and Canada,” he said.

“A lot of parents have not yet made up their mind with a concrete plan, major reasons are because of the pandemic, financial and jobs commitments but the numbers are expected to grow because of the political reasons, and they do not think that the education system an the environment in Hong Kong will be same as 10 years ago,” he told The PIE.

“With this uncertainty, these families will be moving and it means their children will be following the…