Britain has rejected calls to amend its laws to give 170,000 Hongkongers holding British National (Overseas) passports full British citizenship.

That came with London responding to a petition by 101,954 Hongkongers that urged full citizenship for BN(O) passport holders.

The petition went to the British government and parliament, which consider petitions carrying more than 100,000 signatures for a debate.

But the word was that “there are no plans to amend the law.”

The response said only British citizens and certain Commonwealth citizens have the right of abode in the United Kingdom while holders of BN(O) passports can to stay in the UK visa-free for up to six months.

It also stated: “In his 2007 review of citizenship, Lord Goldsmith recognized that to automatically give BN(O)s full British citizenship would be a breach of the commitments made between China and the UK in the 1984 Joint Declaration on the future of Hong Kong, and that to secure Chinese agreement to vary the terms of that treaty would not be possible."

By law, BN(O) holders can be registered as British citizens if they have lived in the UK for five years and meet other requirements.

The British Nationality Hong Kong Act 1997 also provides for the registration of people who would otherwise be stateless and who have ordinarily been residents of Hong Kong. So BN(O) holders with no other citizenship or nationality rights could qualify.

Before the handover, Britain replaced the British Dependent Territories Citizens passports held by three million people with the BN(O) passport, which grants the right to vote in the United Kingdom but not the right to live or work there.

September 2 saw several hundred people rallying outside the British consulate in Hong Kong to demand they be given full British passports.