The Hong Kong government is seeking to entice the children of former residents — thousands of whom live in the Metro Vancouver area — by offering one-year visas allowing them to work in the former British colony.

According to an article in the South China Morning Post, Hong Kong chief executive C.Y. Leung last week announced that overseas children of former residents were being offered visas allowing them to look for work in Hong Kong.

In the years leading up to the handover of the city in 1997, the prospect of the colony returning to Chinese sovereignty led to an exodus of citizens, with tens of thousands seeking residency in other countries, many choosing Canada.

UBC geography professor Dan Hiebert, an expert in human migration, said he doubts the Hong Kong plan will be very successful.

“A lot of governments have attempted this, which is to try and attract some of its diaspora population back,” said Hiebert.

He said the primary reason behind the effort is that Hong Kong has very low fertility rates.

“Its demographic situation is considerably below replacement (rates), and they are thinking through how to resolve that particular issue. One way of doing that, in a way that is politically and socially acceptable to Hong Kongers, is to bring back people who had been there before,” he said. “That’s why they are bringing forward these incentives.

“Will it work? Well, on the plus side of the ledger, if they have better jobs there than here, then it will be an attractive proposition as many people in Vancouver have ongoing family and social relationships with people in Hong Kong. So, for them, it would be a relatively minor adjustment.

“Then, also on the plus side, there are many people of Hong Kong origin who think of Vancouver as a kind of quiet, somewhat boring city compared to the rapid pace of life and the things available in Hong Kong,” he said.

On the negative side of the ledger is the cost of housing in Hong Kong, which is double or more than in B.C., he said.

“Then there is the issue of language. Many people may speak Cantonese that seems to pass muster in Vancouver, but if they go to Hong Kong and have to live and work in Cantonese — especially for second- and third-generation people — it may not be so easy to translate their Cantonese to the fully functioning business world of Hong Kong.

“Also, if they enjoy the more natural environment (in B.C.), that will hold them here,” he said.

He said the political climate in Hong Kong could also deter young people from moving there.

“There have been protest movements in Hong Kong by young people, particularly around the Chinese influence in that city. So, for those more politically motivated or more comfortable with the way democracy operates on this side of the Pacific, that might be a bit of stumbling block,” he said.

“Given all that, I don’t see this (visa offer) as the kind of policy that is going to have overnight massive impact with tens of thousands of people buying plane tickets and relocating their lives there,” he said.

gbellett@vancouversun.com

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