Former Hong Kong opposition leader Wu Chi-wai has been allowed to stay in the UK with his family for six months, after initially being detained at the border.
Wu had arrived at London’s Heathrow Airport last Wednesday, where he was detained for nearly 10 hours and initially refused entry, he told BBC Chinese. He said he was later told he could stay for only one week, after which he would have to report to the airport to be deported.
But on Monday, the UK Border Force approved his entry and granted him a standard stay of six months, he said.
The 63-year-old was the leader of the now-defunct Democratic Party and one of the most recognisable faces of the city’s quashed pro-democracy movement.
Wu is one of the so-called Hong Kong 47, a group of high-profile pro-democracy leaders who were sentenced to jail after a controversial national security trial.
He was released in June after spending more than five years in prison for subversion and other convictions.
Wu told BBC Chinese that his son and wife moved to the UK in 2022 and 2023, and the only communication he had with them since then was through monthly phone calls and letters. He had hoped to reunite with his family in the UK during his recent visit, he added.
Ahead of his departure, Wu said he had consulted staff at the British Consulate General in Hong Kong, asking if there would be any problems with his entry.
“The information I received was that there would be none,” he said, adding that consular staff said they would explain his criminal record and itinerary to the UK Border Force.
The Border Force said he was not considered a “genuine visitor” who was solely visiting family, he said.
Wu denies that he had intended to apply for political asylum in the UK – a claim that was previously reported in the media.
Rights group Hong Kong Watch, which had called on UK authorities to allow Wu to stay in the country, said in a statement that it welcomed the recent news.
“This is the right outcome, and it should never have taken this long,” Megan Khoo, Hong Kong Watch’s policy director, said in a statement on Monday.
“He should never have faced the prospect of removal back to the city that jailed him.”
Wu was using his British National (Overseas) (BNO) passport – a special travel document issued to Hong Kong permanent residents before 1 July 1997, when Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule – to enter the UK.
BNO passport holders are typically allowed to stay in the UK visa-free for six months.
Since 2021, the UK government launched a visa programme for BNO passport holders. Those granted the visa are eligible to work, study and live in the UK, putting them on a pathway to citizenship after they settle in the UK.
The new policy came after Hong Kong was rocked by massive pro-democracy protests, which authorities cracked down on. Since then, Hong Kong has come under increasing control from Beijing, and many of its pro-democracy figures have been either fled the city or been jailed.
More than 230,000 Hong Kongers have been granted BNO visas and nearly 170,000 have already relocated to the UK, according to the UK government.
The UK Home Office, which oversees the UK Border Force, told BBC Chinese on Monday that it does not comment on individual cases, but stated that “the UK government remains steadfast in its support for the Hong Kong community in the UK”.
A spokesperson from HKSAR Government told BBC Chinese that it has not received any requests for assistance from Hong Kong residents to date.
By BBC News
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