The island would welcome people moving here from Hong Kong, a government minister says.

From January 31, those who hold a British National Overseas passport (BNO) are able to work and live in Britain - including the Isle of Man - for five years and can apply for settled status after this period.

The UK eased citizenship requirements for Hong Kong citizens who want to leave the territory in the wake of continued pressure from Beijing on civil liberties.

A BNO passport can be held by anyone from Hong Kong who registered for the passport before 1997, when British sovereignty was passed over to China.

The passport holder’s status also provides cover for their partners, children or dependent relatives.

People who move from Hong Kong to the Isle of Man would have to have a work permit for certain jobs.

But they would be able to move here with no other restrictions.

Enterprise Minister Laurence Skelly this week told the Manx Independent that although there has been no recent discussion about the matter, that the Isle of Man government would welcome anyone wishing to emigrate from Hong Kong.

’From our point of view, [the island] is part of the British family and essentially we have a mirrored route for our own immigration rules, similar to the UK,’ he said.

’People from Hong Kong can apply to move to the island and we know that we’ve got strong links with China - our finance industry has been there for over 20 to 30 years, satellite offices too and we have quite a lot of digital interests, particularly in the eGaming side of things.’

Mr Skelly said that there have been people consistently moving here from Hong Kong and other parts of Asia and that the government expects it will continue under the new UK BNO passport scheme.

When asked about how the island’s housing could cope with more people moving here, Mr Skelly said: ’Government has just approved the Eastern Area Plan, which outlines considerable housing developments in that, which is also focussed on current residents as well as new.

’Ballasalla and Castletown have also got new developments planned and will help people be able to get on the housing ladder.

’Whilst there will be an influx of people from Hong Kong coming to the UK, people who will come to the island might be independently wealthy or taking-up employment.’

The Isle of Man Chinese Association’s Jenny Lai said that if people from Hong Kong were planning to move here, then it would likely not be until the summer time, due to the current pandemic.

’Most BNO passport holders are waiting to receive their vaccine first,’ she said.

’They might have relatives who are asking them to come here. There are around 400 to 550 people who live on the island from China and Hong Kong currently.

’More Asian people move here because there are eGaming companies here, spending six months to a year [living here]. The Chinese Association isn’t able to have a regular meetings at the moment due to the pandemic, but from the past two to three years we have seen more Asian people coming over here. I can see maybe within five years, if government allow people to move here, that the figure could increase to up to 1,000 people.’

Ms Lai said that other reasons people could move to the island include because it is safe, has good education and has a beautiful environment.