The move was a response to the 20-year prison sentence handed to former Hong Kong media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying for convictions of national security-related charges in the city on Monday morning.

In a statement on Monday, the Home Office, Britain’s interior ministry, said the expansion of the scheme “honours the UK’s historic commitment to the people of Hong Kong” following the “continuing deterioration of rights and freedoms” in the former British colony.

“Adult children of [BN(O)] status holders who were under 18 at the time of Hong Kong’s 1997 handover to China will now be eligible to apply for the route independently of their parents,” the statement said.

“Their partners and children will also be able to move to the UK under the expanded route,” the Home Office statement read, adding that it expected 26,000 people to arrive in the UK over the next five years.

In a reply to the South China Morning Post, a Home Office communication officer confirmed that Monday’s changes meant the eligibility was now further expanded to cover those Hongkongers born between 1979 and 1997 whose parents did not apply to the BN(O) scheme for them before the handover.