Hong Kong has a long-established
South Asian population. As of the 2006 by-census, there were at least 44,744 persons of South Asian descent in Hong Kong. Many trace their roots in Hong Kong as far back as when most of the
Indian subcontinent was still under
British colonial rule, and as a legacy of the
British Empire, their nationality issues remain largely unsettled. However, recently an increasing number of them have acquired Chinese nationality.