UK Survey: HK Immigrants Are Settling Well Overall

Parents concerned children are taught Simplified Chinese and Mandarin

The Islington Chinese Association recently published a survey, "Pilot Study on the adjustment needs of families with children migrating from Hong Kong to the UK.” It found many parents have difficulty finding classes for their children to continue learning Traditional Chinese characters and speaking Cantonese. Adrian Dennis/AFP

Since the Hong Kong National Security Law (NSL) was implemented in 2020, a wave of emigration of Hong Kong residents has occurred. At the end of June 2022, the UK had granted BNO visas to more than 130,000 Hong Kong citizens. The Islington Chinese Association (ICA) in London recently released a survey on Hong Kong people’s adaptation to life in the UK. The team adopted a qualitative research approach that showed most people have found jobs, their children are in school, are well-behaved, and interested in learning. However, the parents found that their children were not learning to write Traditional Chinese characters or speak Cantonese, as most schools in the UK teach Simplified Chinese characters and Mandarin Chinese (Putonghua).

The British government launched the “5+1” BNO visa programme on Jan. 31, 2021, allowing Hong Kong people and their families who hold or used to hold BNO passports to apply to move to the UK to work and live. After five years of residence they will have the “indefinite leave to remain” status and can apply for British citizenship after another year. According to figures from the UK Home Office, as of June 30 this year, 140,500 applications were received, of which 133,124 were approved.

The Islington Chinese Association (ICA) in London, published the “Pilot Study on the adjustment needs of families with children migrating from Hong Kong to the UK” on Oct. 7. The team adopted a qualitative research approach and interviewed 11 people in March and April 2022. All interviewees were parents. Seven were mothers, with children aged 1.5 to 22 years old, the majority of which were between 6 and 12. They were middle-class families with savings, and most had university degrees.

All interviewees arrived in the UK between September 2020 and December 2021 and lived in London, Cambridge, Kingston, Sutton, Guildford, and Woking. Six people said that they and their spouse did not arrive in the UK at the same time, and one of them said she didn’t receive help in finding a home or a school for her children.

Pre-Emigration Reliance on Social Media

The survey found that most of the respondents spent less than a year preparing to move to the UK, and two said they had planned to move to the UK before the British government announced the launch of the BNO visa “5+1” programme. When preparing to emigrate, parents were most concerned about finding schools, housing, and jobs, and they relied heavily on social media such as Facebook and WhatsApp groups as primary sources of information.

When choosing which city to live in, they considered the unique features of the city. Things like whether it is vibrant, whether the children are pleased with it, whether there are good schools, job opportunities, convenient transportation, and the like. In addition, they also considered whether they had relatives and friends in the city who can provide assistance when needed.

Most said their children were well integrated in their new school, both academically and socially. As is common with most Hong Kong parents, they were used to arranging very intensive after-class learning and activities for their children. The new environment is, however, vastly different from Hong Kong. Some parents feel much more relaxed now and have started to explore other ways to care for their children.

Securing a Job

In terms of work, eight of the interviewed parents said that they or their spouses had already found jobs in the UK; four said that they or their spouses had started looking for jobs before arriving here, and two had secured jobs before they left Hong Kong.

The ICA said that the people who are still looking for work are, in general, optimistic and believe that London has more job opportunities than other cities. Some interviewees believed that the average parent paid too much attention to comparing the cost of living in different cities and failed to notice the differences in employment opportunities. They suggested that Hong Kong people should get more information about employment opportunities in different cities and carefully consider whether their skills are compatible with local employment needs to enhance their chances of finding work close to home.

Not Learning Traditional Chinese Characters or Cantonese

The survey also found that some parents did not realize the appropriate time to register their children for school. For example, some parents arrived in the UK in June and July, only to find that the schools did not process applications during the summer vacation months.

The survey found that all of the parents said that preserving the unique identity of Hong Kong people is especially important, and feel that they have a unique political history, cultural characteristics, and customs, which are different from other Chinese communities. While they want their children to continue learning to read and write Traditional Chinese characters and speaking Cantonese, they found that most schools in the UK only teach writing with Simplified Chinese characters and speaking in Mandarin. They hope the UK libraries can provide books and other media in Traditional Chinese as additional learning resources for their children.

One of the parents suggested that the British government should look at establishing courses using Traditional Chinese and teach Cantonese as a second language. Some parents also want to preserve the traditional values ​​of Hong Kong people on sex, marriage, and respect for the elders.

New Wave of Immigrants is Different From the Past

Lady Blair, ​​the founder of the ICA, revealed that in the past two years, more and more Hong Kong people have come to them for information and services, and many are families with children. She believes that this new wave of immigrants is different from the past generations of immigrants from Hong Kong. The survey found that those respondents who have adapted best have three things in common: they have good IT skills, are proactive, and are able to build a good social  network.

She said future research would focus on those Hong Kong people who face more adversity, such as, single people, older grandparents, those living outside London, and people with fewer resources and networks.

The ICA was established in 1986. In recent years, it has received funding from the British government to provide services to help new immigrants from Hong Kong to settle in the UK.