Home Office written question – answered at on 2 December 2025.
Sorcha Eastwood
Alliance, Lagan Valley
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether individuals from Hong Kong who have been granted asylum or refugee status will be required to meet a 20-year settlement requirement.
Mike Tapp
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department
The Government remains steadfast in its support for members of the Hong Kong community in the UK. We fully recognise the significant contribution that Hong Kongers have already made to the UK, and the role they will continue to play in the years ahead.
Those on the BN(O) visa route will receive a 5-year reduction under the new earned settlement model.
For those recognised as refugees, we will introduce a starting point of a 20-year qualifying period of settlement. Those who move from core protection onto the new core protection-work and study routes will be able to earn reductions.
Resettled refugees who have been granted protection and moved to the UK through official resettlement programmes are intended to start at 10 years, bringing them in line with other arrivals on planned migration routes.
Beyond this, full details of the new earned settlement model will be finalised following the currently ongoing public consultation.
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Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.