Policy statement released on new PRC proposals

The Ministry of Labour has published a policy statement on securing permanent residency for long term residents.

This has very little information about the proposals that was not already set out in the previous announcement, that I covered in my previous newsletter post (linked here for those who may have signed up after that post was sent out).

The only hint of new information is that it suggests the current fee of $50,000 for PRC under the work permit exemption route will remain, with the new fees of $10,000 being for the new long term resident PRCs. This is an indication that the government is not planning to scrap the work permit exemption route, but will instead supplement it with this new route.

This may be of some reassurance to those who might qualify under the work permit exemption route much more quickly than they might qualify under the long term resident route.

Notably absent from the policy statement is any mention of Belongers or naturalisation as a British Overseas Territories citizen. The vast majority of PRC holders will want to naturalise, as it provides many additional benefits over and above PRC (and, in the case of a married couple, it may usually make more sense for only the husband to obtain PRC, following which both husband and wife will be eligible to naturalise, saving the thousands of dollars required for the wife to obtain PRC).

Also absent is any timetable on when this might all occur.