Key facts
- Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said there would be a presumption in favor of ensuring applicants are not barred by 2019 protest convictions.
- The letter went to Alex Sobel, chairman of the UK Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights.
- The change followed reports that several convicted protesters had their BN(O) applications rejected.
The UK government confirmed that convictions linked to Hong Kong's 2019 protests should generally not prevent otherwise eligible applicants from using the British National (Overseas) visa scheme, according to a letter dated Wednesday and published November 12, 2026.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood wrote to Alex Sobel, chairman of the UK Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights, saying there would now be a "presumption in favour" of ensuring that applicants are not excluded on that basis. The government acted after reports that several convicted protesters had their applications rejected.
The report did not state how many applications were affected, how the presumption would be applied in individual cases, or when the change takes effect.