South Asians in Hong Kong form a significant part of the city's society. According to the 2021 by-census, there were at least 101,969 people of South Asian descent living in the city. Many have traced their roots in Hong Kong for over a century, dating back to the period when both Hong Kong and the Indian subcontinent were under British colonial rule. Their presence is also a legacy of the British Empire, and issues around nationality and citizenship remain complex for many.
Some South Asians in Hong Kong continue to hold Indian citizenship, while others have acquired Chinese nationality and hold a HKSAR passport, usually after obtaining permanent residency. Despite differences in nationality, a large majority speak Cantonese fluently, integrating linguistically into Hong Kong society while maintaining distinct cultural identities.
Nationality and right of abode South Asians in Hong Kong include citizens of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and a small number of stateless persons and naturalised citizens of the People's Republic of China. As a result, many of them also become British National (Overseas) or British citizens.
British nationality
According to the statistics of the Republic of India's High Level Committee on Indian Diaspora, among Hong Kong residents there are 22,000 Indian citizens and 28,500 non-citizen Persons of Indian Origin (people with origins in British India, including places which lie outside today's Republic of India, and having citizenships of countries other than the Republic of India. Note that this number may include people who consider themselves as Pakistanis, Nepalis, or other South Asian nationalities).Report of the High Level Committee on the Indian Diaspora, 2000. See specifically Part I page xlvii; as well see Report of the High Level Committee on the Indian Diaspora, Chapter 21 pages 281–283. The citizenship of Hong Kong residents of Indian descent who lacked Republic of India citizenship was a major point of contention in the years leading up to the handover. Many Indians had settled in Hong Kong, taking it as their only home and naturalising as Citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies (CUKCs). This status initially made no distinctions between residents of the United Kingdom and elsewhere, but from the 1960s onwards a number of nationality acts successively scraped away the privileges it offered, creating a class of CUKCs who had no right of abode in the United Kingdom itself. Eventually in 1981, these restrictions were codified in a new class of British citizenship, the British Dependent Territories Citizenship (BDTC). Furthermore, as this status would cease to be effective after the 1997 handover, the British government created the new status of British National, a restricted form of British nationality which also did not grant right of abode in the United Kingdom. By 1985, out of about 14,000 Indians settled in Hong Kong, 6,000 were BDTCs.
Unlike the majority people of Chinese descent, who were seen by the incoming Chinese administration as always having been Chinese citizens, the ethnic minorities, including South Asians, would be left only with BN(O) status, which amounted to effective statelessness due to the lack of guarantee of returnability to the United Kingdom or anywhere else and the lack of ability to pass the status on to descendants beyond one generation. With their citizenship in limbo, by the 1990s many Indians in Hong Kong reportedly would not even marry among themselves, preferring to look overseas for potential spouses with foreign passports. Some rich South Asians were granted full British citizenship under the British Nationality Selection Scheme, but the Home Office opposed a blanket grant for fears of the precedent it might set. Younger Indians formed lobbying groups such as the Indian Resources Group to press their case with the British government. They emphasised that their members had not applied for emigration to other countries such as Canada or the United States, and would be unlikely to settle in Britain were they granted citizenship; instead, they intended to remain in Hong Kong and believed that British citizenship would facilitate this aim.
In the end, the British government formally agreed to grant citizenship to any BN(O), BDTC, or other British subject who had no other citizenship on 4 February 1997. Thus, most stateless people of Indian origin were able to obtain British citizen passports. However, confusion over the interaction of British and Indian nationality laws effectively rendered this promise useless in roughly 200 cases, all minors who had acquired Indian citizenship at birth and later became BN(O)s by registration. Indian nationality law provides that any Indian citizen acquiring foreign citizenship by naturalisation or registration loses his citizenship of India; only Indians who acquired foreign citizenship by reason of birth could hold dual citizenship. The Indian government stated that people who had acquired BN(O) status by birth remained Indian citizens until age 18. However, BN(O) status is not acquired by birth, meaning that every single Indian adult or minor who registered as a BN(O) lost his Indian citizenship. Notwithstanding that, the British Home Office used the Indian government's statement as a basis for denying full British citizenship to people who were minors on 4 February 1997; the Home Office misunderstood India's dual citizenship provisions to mean that they were still entitled to Indian citizenship on that date, when in fact they were not. More than a decade after the handover, they have not naturalised as Chinese citizens; instead, they continue to hold only BN(O) passports in hopes of being able to attain the full British citizenship that was promised to them.
Chinese nationality + Naturalisation approval rates of different groups, July 1997 − November 2012; the statistical tables may be found in the two annexes linked in the right sidebar Nationality Applications Approvals Approvalrate Total 15,518 12,658 81.6% Pakistani 4,536 3,411 75.2% Indian 3,224 2,487 77.1% Vietnamese 1,593 1,115 70.0% Filipino 570 387 67.9% Others 5,595 5,258 94.0%
A small proportion of Indians have availed themselves of naturalisation as Chinese citizens, which according to law can be requested by any Hong Kong permanent resident who has Chinese relatives, who has settled there, or who has other legitimate reasons, and who is willing to renounce all foreign citizenships.
The Nationality Law of the People's Republic of China began to apply in the HKSAR when it was established on 1 July 1997 in accord with Hong Kong Basic Law Article 18 and Annex III, with some differences from the application of the same law in mainland China, due to explanations of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.Explanations of some questions by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress concerning the implementation of the Nationality Law of the PRC in the HKSAR .Immigration Department. That put the Immigration Department in charge of administering the Nationality Law within the SAR.
Although China did not agree to a blanket grant of citizenship to South Asians settled in Hong Kong, it empowered the Hong Kong Immigration Department to naturalise Hong Kong residents as Chinese citizens. Prior to 2002, the Hong Kong Immigration Department discouraged South Asians and other ethnic minorities from taking this course, with immigration officers reportedly refusing to even give them the forms to fill in (thus they would not show up in rejection statistics). It took until December 2002 to see the first case of successful naturalisation application by an ethnic minority resident with no Chinese relatives, an Indian girl, followed by a Pakistani man.
Other high-profile South Asians such as aspiring politician Abdull Ghafar Khan and the wife of Gill Mohindepaul Singh have continued to experience rejections of their naturalisation applications as well, leading to an August 2012 letter of concern from then-Equal Opportunities Commissioner Eden Lam to the Immigration Department. Several affected South Asian residents contacted their legislators seeking relief, leading to a Legislative Council question later that year by Claudia Mo of the Civic Party to Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok. Lai's response revealed that from July 1997 to November 2012, Pakistanis and Indians formed more than half of the applicants for naturalisation and had an approval rate higher than Vietnamese or Filipinos, but far lower than the applicant pool excluding those four groups.
Immigration Department statistics provided to the Legislative Council at various times show that from July 1997 to April 2005, only 552 Indian citizens applied for naturalisation as Chinese citizens, while from May 2005 to November 2012, nearly five times as many (2,672) applied. In total, among the 3,224 Indians who applied for naturalisation from July 1997 to November 2012, 2,487 (77.1%) had their applications accepted. Persons of Indian origin who are citizens of China, or any of whose ancestors were ever citizens of China, are not eligible to obtain a Persons of Indian Origin Card.
Those who are born in Hong Kong to stateless parents are entitled to Chinese nationality at birth under Article 6 of the Chinese nationality law.
Languages The South Asians of Hong Kong are usually multilingual, with many attaining trilingual fluency or more. Most are fluent in both English and a mother tongue (such as Sindhi, Tamil, Gujarati, or Punjabi) and many are fluent in Hindi–Urdu as well. In addition, some may also study Sanskrit, Arabic, or Avestan for religious reasons. The command of Cantonese is more variable; one 2006 survey of South Asian parents with children attending school in Hong Kong showed that more than 80% were illiterate in Chinese, while 60% could not speak Cantonese at all.
Among respondents to the 2011 Census who self-identified as Indian, 37.2% stated that they spoke English as their usual language, 4.6% Cantonese, and 57.9% some other language. With regards to additional spoken languages other than their usual language, 52.0% stated that they spoke English, 30.7% Cantonese, and 7.0% Mandarin. (Multiple responses were permitted to the latter question, hence the responses are non-exclusive.) 10.8% did not speak English as either their usual language nor an additional language, while the respective figures for Cantonese and Mandarin were 64.7% and 93.0%.
Occupational history Some famous Indians are Hormusjee Naorojee Mody, Dorabjee Naorojee Mithaiwala, Hari Harilela and Jehangir Hormusjee Ruttonjee who arrived independently in the course of trade from Bombay, Gujarat and Karachi (Sindh).
In the pre-war period, most of the Indians took part in the army. Before the Second World War, nearly 60% of the police force were Sikhs. Also, some Indians have established businesses in Hong Kong. The Harilela family runs one of the best-known business groups.Kwok S. T., Narain, K. (2003).Co-Prosperity in Cross-Culturalism: Indians in Hong Kong.P.30
After the war, the number of Indians taking up positions at government sections had declined as most of the Indians were no longer citizens of the British colony after India gained independence in 1947. A large number of Sikh policemen left Hong Kong and about 150 Punjabi Muslim and Pathan worked in the police force in 1952.Kwok S. T., Narain, K. (2003).Co-Prosperity in Cross-Culturalism: Indians in Hong Kong.P.60 Meanwhile, other Indian communities such as Marwaris and Tamil Muslims came to Hong Kong for trading.