Story perspectives

UK Grants Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Leader Six-Month Visitor Status

7/28/2026

Summary

Story summary

The UK Home Office confirmed that Wu Chi-wai will not be removed and that he has been granted a six-month visitor status in London.
His lawyer Paul Harris said immigration authorities sent a letter confirming the six-month visitor status.
Wu, former chairman of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy party, served over five years after a 2024 four-year-five-month sentence for conspiracy to commit subversion.

History

Historical Context

The Beijing-imposed Hong Kong National Security Law, signed by Xi Jinping and effective 30 June 2020—before the 23rd anniversary of the 1997 handover—criminalised secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign collusion in 66 articles. After the law’s use to convict Democratic Party leader Wu Chi-wai in 2024, the UK Home Office granted him six-month visitor status, echoing 2020 condemnation of the law and its immigration pathways for Hong Kong activists.

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Story summary

The UK Home Office confirmed that Wu Chi-wai will not be removed and that he has been granted a six-month visitor status in London.
His lawyer Paul Harris said immigration authorities sent a letter confirming the six-month visitor status.
Wu, former chairman of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy party, served over five years after a 2024 four-year-five-month sentence for conspiracy to commit subversion.

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