现年63岁的香港前反对派领导人吴祷唯上周三抵达伦敦希思罗机场后遭遇入境困难，英国边境部队初时拒绝其入境并威胁遣返，但随后改变决定，允许其以BNO护照身份停留6个月[1]。吴祷唯在机场被扣留约10小时，期间英国边境部队先是仅批准其停留一周，后来调整为标准的6个月期限[1]。
吴祷唯是已解散民主党的前主席，同时也是香港47人案的被告之一[1]。他因颠覆罪等罪名被监禁超过5年，于今年6月获释[1]。此次赴英的目的是与妻儿团聚——他的家人已在2022至2023年期间迁居英国[1]。
香港观察组织主任Megan Khoo对这一结果表示认可，指出"这是正确的结果，不应该费时这么久"[1]。英国自2021年起为BNO护照持有人推出专项签证计划，迄今已有超过23万名香港人获得BNO签证，其中近17万人已迁居英国[1]。
Wu Chi-wai, a former pro-democracy leader from Hong Kong, was initially denied entry at London Heathrow Airport last Wednesday but was subsequently allowed to remain in the United Kingdom [1]. British border officials initially granted him only a one-week stay before reversing their decision to authorize the standard six-month residency period [1]. The 63-year-old activist entered the country using a British National Overseas (BNO) passport and was detained for approximately ten hours upon arrival [1].
Wu Chi-wai was imprisoned for more than five years on sedition charges and other offenses before his release in June of this year [1]. He was a former chairman of the now-dissolved Democratic Party and numbered among the defendants in Hong Kong's 47-person case [1]. His visit to Britain was motivated by a desire to reunite with his wife and children, who relocated to the country between 2022 and 2023 [1].
The UK has operated a BNO visa scheme since 2021, through which more than 230,000 Hong Kong residents have obtained BNO visas, with nearly 170,000 already settling in Britain [1]. Megan Khoo, director of Hong Kong Watch, characterized the outcome as "the right result" but noted that "it should not have taken this long" [1].