Since the implementation of the BNO visa programme by the UK government last year, about 142,000 Hong Kong applications had been approved by the end of June this year. The majority of the applicants are aged between 24 and 54. About a third of the applications are from persons under 18. Some commented that such numbers are staggering. The general consensus of so many people leaving is more to avoid the younger generation being brainwashed in the future.
Split further into age groups, applicants under the age of 18 accounted for the most, at 38,600, followed by the 35 to 44 years old, at 32,600.
Current affairs commentator Raymond Wong Yung-man described the numbers as staggering. The under-18s are the future masters; many of the 35 to 44-year-olds may be professionals, middle-class, with children still at school. “All are in a hurry to run away rather than staying here waiting to be brainwashed?” He also criticized those in the pro-establishment camp as hypocrites. “Praising their masters on the one hand, but sneaking away through the back door,” by arranging for family members to leave or their children to go to international schools if they had not left yet. However, he found it strange the authorities still say they want to “snatch talents” from outside under such an environment….