Inspection report published on a route that could potentially have seen millions of applications
The latest inspection report by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI), David Neal, was published yesterday and examines the efficiency and effectiveness of the Home Office's Hong Kong British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) visa route.
Image credit: UK GovernmentYou can read the 48-page report here.
As the report notes, the visa route was announced in response to the Chinese Government's imposition of a new national security law on Hong Kong. It was introduced into legislation by October 2020's statement of changes to the Immigration Rules.
Overall, the inspection found the route was working well and it demonstrates an "effective and efficient" area of the Home Office.
David Neal said: "The route, implemented within tight timescales, provides an efficient service with most applicants benefiting from a fully digital experience. The Hong Kong BN(O) caseworking team is able to flex to demand and challenges due to significant investment into training additional caseworkers prior to the launch and a relatively straightforward set of requirements for this route."
While there were just over 33 caseworkers assigned to Hong Kong BN(O) applications at the time of the ICIBI's inspection (from April to June 2022), around 200 staff had received training for the route. This meant there was a "flexible and resilient workforce which could be scaled up in response to significant increases in demand."
Inspectors said they were impressed by the enthusiasm and pride demonstrated by staff at all grades.
David Neal added: "My inspectors found caseworkers were engaged, motivated and understood the importance of good customer service. Staff across the Hong Kong BN(O) operational teams had clearly benefited from their previous experience of implementing and working on the European Union Settlement Scheme and learnings from the early challenges of the route had helped to drive improvements. This demonstrates that well planned and appropriately resourced approaches to new routes can work well."
Home Office team members told ICIBI inspectors that a new immigration route normally takes 12 to 14 months to deliver so the shorter timescale to implement the Hong Kong BN(O) route was a challenge.
There was particular uncertainty around the volume of applications that would be received. One Home Office team member said: "From an ops perspective it was the unknown of volumes, we potentially had a couple of million who could have applied."
The Home Office's 2020 impact assessment estimated that up to 5.4 million Hong Kong residents would be eligible to move to the UK under the scheme. Estimates of how many applications could be expected, both in total and in the first year, were produced using analysis by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), which ranged from a high of 322,400 total applications to a low of 258,000. The ICIBI report notes that the actual number of applications for the first year of the route was 111,582, which was 11,000 fewer than the FCDO's low estimate.
According to Home Office data provided to ICIBI inspectors, a total of 132,069 applications were submitted for the Hong Kong BN(O) visa route between 31 January 2021 and 30 April 2022. Of those, 123,597 had an outcome recorded and the vast majority (107,269) were granted. Only a tiny fraction (under 0.25%) were refused or rejected, though Home Office data shows around 16% of cases had an outcome recorded as 'Other' (denoting not a grant, refusal or rejection).
Inspectors found "a culture of decision-making which erred towards granting," and "[w]here this was not possible, caseworkers would contact applicants requesting further information to help reach a positive outcome."
The ICIBI report also looks at the process of applying under the route, with most applicants undergoing a fully digital experience.
The report notes: "Inspectors were told by stakeholders and caseworkers that there had been some problems with the digital route, including multiple applications being lodged by applicants, but at the time of the inspection these appeared to have been overcome and around 90% of applications were being made via the digital route. This brings practical advantages from a security perspective as attendance at a visa application centre (VAC) in Hong Kong can be avoided by most applicants, leading to associated cost and logistical savings for applicants."
Applicants in Hong Kong were said to prefer to use the fully digital route due to fears of being monitored by the Chinese authorities.
In terms of the Home Office's processing of applications, the ICIBI inspection found two different caseworking systems were in use, namely Atlas and Proviso. Atlas was preferred, and used for around 90% of applications at the time of the inspection, but there were some technical glitches that had led to a number of applications becoming 'stuck in the system'.
The ICIBI did find problems with adult dependent relatives, which David Neal called the only real blemish on an otherwise positive inspection.
The report explains: "Caseworkers in the Hong Kong BN(O) team considered the dependency threshold for adult dependent relatives (ADR) of BN(O) status holders to be 'too high', although it is in line with all other immigration routes. This had been raised with the policy team, who were yet to provide a position as at May 2022, leading to 600+ applications which had been submitted as early as 31 January 2021 being deferred. Managers said that granting ADRs on this route would likely have 'implications for other routes', which may explain the delay in providing a policy position. Staff were aware that some of these ADRs had entered the UK already, despite a decision not having been made on their visa application. They were able to enter as visitors or having been granted LOTR on an exceptional basis at the border. However, the delay in policy position risked many of these ADRs becoming 'overstayers', if their 6-month visitor permission had been exceeded. The Home Office did not have data on how many had already travelled to the UK."
The report makes three recommendations, including to develop a clear plan to resolve the deferred adult dependent relative applications, all of which were accepted by the Home Office.