Could China be seeing Hongkongers’ visa applications?

Protests in China this week against Covid restrictions and the country's authoritarian rule were reminiscent of the violent crackdown seen in Hong Kong two years ago.

Since then the UK has given sanctuary to more than 140,000 people from the former British territory.

Many of those applied for visas through a locally based private company that carries out work on behalf of the Home Office. But Newsnight and BBC Eye has learned of concerns over who has access to the information of those applying for visas.

Whilst the British government stresses any final decisions on visas are taken by vetted UK officials, outsourcing of the administrative work could leave the data vulnerable to Chinese espionage.  

A Home Office spokesperson tells Newsnight that information captured by local Chinese partners “is encrypted and securely transmitted to UKVI and subsequently automatically deleted from commercial partner systems.” It added, “Chinese facility management companies have no access to stored visa application data… and no influence on the integrity of the visa application process or involvement in visa decision-making.”

Richard Watson has this exclusive story, which contains some flash photography.