Pro-democracy district council member Lui Man-kwong holds a sign on Sunday as he protests a decision to have mainland inspectors carry out COVID-19 testing in Hong Kong.
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There’s growing interest among Hong Kong residents in leaving for Britain, at least if job searches are any indication.
The job-search site Indeed UK has produced data showing a surge in interest from Hong Kong. Searches from Hong Kong still represent just a tiny fraction of overall activity, but the pickup is striking.
A spokesman says the company is basing this data on IP addresses, so there’s no way of knowing whether the searches are from native Hong Kongers or British expats considering a move home.
The U.K. is offering 3 million Hong Kong residents the right to live and work in the U.K. after China imposed a new national-security law. That law, designed to quell protests in the semiautonomous region, breached the Sino-British Joint Declaration signed by the U.K. and China and relinquishing British control over Hong Kong, according to Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
The U.K. is offering five years of limited leave to remain, with eligibility for full British citizenship. It applies to those born before the July 1, 1997, handover and their children.
