British border authorities admitted former Hong Kong lawmaker Wu Chi-wai on seven-day immigration bail, allowing him to reunite with family in London while removal remained scheduled for Wednesday unless the Home Office changed its decision. [1]

Wu had served more than five years in Hong Kong and received a four-year, five-month sentence over an unofficial primary under the territory's national security law; AP places his case beside Britain's broader welcome for Hong Kong residents, under which more than 230,000 people have obtained the special visa and more than 9,800 have secured settlement. [1]

Immigration bail is neither of those durable statuses, because admission let Wu cross the border temporarily without granting asylum, a special visa, leave to remain, or settlement; Wu denied seeking asylum, and the fetched record contains no written Home Office order explaining what lawful route remains available to him.

The exact X search was blocked, leaving exile-community reaction unobserved; AP's useful contrast is between Britain's policy reputation and one operating case in which a government can advertise refuge generally while an individual remains booked for removal.

The next accountable evidence is the order that follows the reunion, whether removal occurs, and which lawful status Britain ultimately grants or denies, not an assumption that seven days of bail settled Wu's immigration case.

-- CHARLES ASHFORD, London