Eric, a surveyor with a masters degree and 15 years’ experience managing big government contracts, did everything he could to improve his job prospects before moving from Hong Kong to the UK in May 2023.
He secured UK professional accreditation, settled in Manchester because of its building boom and began sending out his CV as soon as he had a permanent address. But after six months scouring job boards, Eric — whose name has been changed to protect his identity — had only managed to find a two-month stint sorting Christmas mail.
He finally landed an administrative job in the public sector, still far below his previous level of seniority, after attending a CV-writing workshop.
“I feel lucky that I am an optimistic person,” he said, describing the wrench of leaving his previous career in Hong Kong. “For six months I kept on getting rejections and I kept cheering myself up”.
Eric’s experience mirrors that of many Hongkongers with British national overseas status, of whom more than 150,000 have come to the UK since 2021 on a visa route opened in response to the Chinese government’s clampdown on political dissidence.
On the face of it, Hongkongers face fewer barriers to integration than other migrants: many came to the UK highly qualified in their field, familiar with English and with a financial cushion to help them settle. Yet like other migrants to richer countries, many have become stuck in low-paid casual work because language barriers, cultural differences and a refusal to recognise their qualifications have shut them out of their previous professions.
Research by think-tank British Future, published in October, highlighted the challenges Hongkongers in particular have faced in finding work to match their skills. It interviewed accountants who were working in kitchens, IT specialists in warehouses and a former editor working as a waitress.
“There are so many Hongkongers in factories and hotels,” said Alex Mak, employment co-ordinator at Hongkongers in Britain, a civil society group formed to help new arrivals settle. “People who had very high socio-economic status in Hong Kong mostly would not find even an intermediate management job — but at least they have a job. Middle managers have to restart their career.”
Analysis by Oxford university’s Migration Observatory shows migrants from eastern Europe and parts of South Asia are significantly more likely to be overqualified for their jobs than UK-born workers, and to be low paid.
Recent refugees from Ukraine have also struggled. An Office for National Statistics survey last April found that while 70 per cent were in work, only a third were in the same sector as before.
Data published by the European Commission shows a similar pattern, with workers born outside the EU almost twice as likely to be overqualified for their job as those working in their country of nationality.
Hongkongers are at a particular disadvantage because the terms of the British National (overseas) visa that most hold stipulates they have no recourse to public funds in their first three years in the UK. This means they cannot access most mainstream help. Specific assistance put in place for Hongkongers has been patchy, underfunded and often oversubscribed.
But Heather Rolfe, director of research at British Future, said she was still surprised at the extent of problems encountered by Hongkongers, who were generally well-qualified, proficient in written English and more experienced than young migrants who had come to the UK under EU free movement.
“There’s an idea that the first generation takes the hit and invests a lot in their children,” she said. “In the past, it was realistic, there was discrimination. We shouldn’t have that now . . . It’s such a waste for those individuals and it’s a waste for the UK.”
Her comments point to a wider problem for the UK, where inward migration has reached more than 4mn over the four years since Brexit ended free movement from the EU.
Despite a hope to attract more qualified and skilled migrants, only a minority have arrived on the skilled worker visas designed for this purpose. Far more have come to work in entry-level roles in care, attracted by long-term visas introduced to address staff shortages in the sector.
Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory, said anecdotal evidence suggested many care workers were overqualified, including nurses, graduates of fields such as engineering, or students who switched to care visas after completing masters degrees.
In some ways this was “a perfectly good policy”, helping employers in a sector with chronic staffing problems and giving migrants a gateway to the UK, Sumption said, but it was also a waste of human capital. “If everyone was using their skills, you would see higher tax revenues and economic activity, and migrants themselves would be better off.”
Marley Morris, associate director at the public policy think-tank IPPR, said that for refugees including Ukrainians and Hongkongers, and care workers who stayed in the UK, “it would be an obvious thing to help them do work that fitted their skill level”.
Language is among the biggest obstacles: even Hongkongers used to writing in English found it difficult to manage colloquial conversation and the nuances of office communications.
“I could not speak a full sentence — just some single words . . . I still have no confidence” said En, who also asked to use a pseudonym. She worked in logistics and customer relations for 20 years before moving to the UK in 2022 but has struggled to find work even in warehouses, without the driving licence needed to reach sites.
After attending language classes offered by her local authority, she secured a role similar to her previous one — but still finds it hard to raise issues with her supervisor, join in unfamiliar small talk and adapt her style.
“I had to change the way I write emails. There was no need to write in full sentences and care about grammar. Now I am learning to write as short and brief as possible, just like a native English person,” she said.
Employers’ willingness to recognise non-UK qualifications was also variable, the Hongkongers found. Persuading employers of the value of experience gained outside the UK was harder still.
Mak gave examples including junior doctors’ credentials not necessarily being accepted, accountants needing to sit extra exams and social workers unable to use their qualifications.
“Some people say they have been rejected at interview stage because they have ‘no local knowledge’. Some may think that is a reason to cover discrimination, but we are just guessing,” he added.
Some Hongkongers said their prospects had been transformed by workshops on how to tailor a CV and approach interviews in the UK.
“In a Hong Kong-style CV we focus on the value of contracts. They think larger value contracts give more confidence . . . In the UK they want to know what action you took and the result of that action — even if the task you name is minor,” said Eric, who gained his current job after changing his approach.
En also secured interviews and a job after adopting this skills-based approach — although she still finds the cultural differences unsettling. “In Hong Kong, we do overtime . . . or our superior will say we are a lazy bum!” she said. “Here, my superior will say, you should leave when your time is up . . . I am still uncomfortable, I just want to finish the job.”
This suggests that relatively straightforward, time-limited support could make a difference, if it were more widely available.
En is adamant persistence pays off. “In the British environment, work culture is different and can be difficult,” she said. “It is not easy to find a job . . . but given time and patience a job will be found in the end.”
Data visualisation by Ella Hollowood
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