Hong Kong banks told to stop accepting BN(O) passports while inmates with dual nationality forced to choose
- Lenders told to follow Immigration Department in refusing to recognise the documents as valid identification
- Western governments express alarm over move to require inmates to declare a nationality, saying it could infringe upon an individual’s rights
The city’s correctional services authority has also started requiring inmates with dual nationality to choose a single one, alarming Western governments, the Post has learned.
But the decision to apply a little-used regulation to require inmates to declare a single nationality has sparked fresh concern from Western governments, with the United States raising the question of whether prisoners would be forced to make the decision under duress.
In a Thursday statement, the Hong Kong Association of Banks said it had “updated its guidance document” for lenders in light of the government’s decision last week to no longer recognise BN(O) passports as valid travel documents or forms of identity.
Arthur Yuen Kwok-hang, deputy chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the city’s de facto central bank, later confirmed in a press conference the guidance meant the passports could no longer be used for accounts.