British National (Overseas), commonly known as BN(O), is one of the major classes of British nationality under British nationality law. Holders of this nationality are British nationals and Commonwealth citizens, but not British Citizens. British National (Overseas) status does not grant right of abode anywhere, including the United Kingdom and Hong Kong.
The creation of the class of British National (Overseas) was a response to the question of the future prospect of Hong Kong in the 1980s, and therefore the nationality was "tailor-made" for the Hong Kong residents with British Dependent Territories Citizen status by virtue of their connection with Hong Kong. The nationality also served to retain an appropriate relationship with the United Kingdom after the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China in 1997. From 1 July 1987 to 1997, around 3.4 million of British Dependent Territories Citizens of Hong Kong (mainly ethnic Chinese), successfully gained British National (Overseas) status by registration. Hong Kong's British Dependent Territories citizenship then ceased to exist after 30 June 1997.
As of 2007, 3.44 million of Hong Kong residents had the status as British National (Overseas), although only 800,000 of them held a valid British National (Overseas) passport. As the BN(O) nationality cannot be gained any more, the number of BN(O)s slowly decreases and will eventually disappear.
Read more about British National (Overseas): Main Characteristics, Registration Procedure, BN(O) Passports, Specific Privileges, EU Consular Protection Outside European Union, Criticism
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