After her early release in June 2021, she made no public announcements until December 2023, when she wrote on social media that she had already moved to Canada in September that year to study for a master's degree at a university in Toronto, and decided to go into exile.

[17][5] Media outlets in Japan have referred to her as the "Goddess of Democracy" (民主の女神, Minshu no Megami) for her role in Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement.

[26] Chow was a leader of the class boycott campaign against the restrictive electoral framework set by the National People's Congress Standing Committee for the 2017 Chief Executive election, which led to the massive Occupy protests dubbed the "Umbrella Revolution".

[32] The announcement came just hours before Beijing passed the national security law in Hong Kong, which raised concerns of political persecution of activists.

[38] Basic Law Committee member Albert Chen Hung-yee said election rules were not clear that returning officers had the power to disqualify candidates based on their political views.

[43] Chow was arrested on 30 August 2019 at her Tai Po home for allegedly participating in, and inciting, an unauthorised assembly at Wan Chai Hong Kong Police Headquarters on 21 June 2019.

[47] On the same day, many high-profile Hong Kong pro-democracy figures were arrested, including Joshua Wong, Au Nok-hin, Chan Ho-tin, and Jeremy Tam.

[53] Agnes Chow, Ivan Lam and Joshua Wong were put in custody until a trial scheduled on 2 December 2020, after a pre-trial hearing in the West Kowloon District court on 23 November 2020, where they pleaded guilty regarding events during the June 2019 demonstration at the Hong Kong police headquarters.

A judge in the trial, West Kowloon Magistrate Wong Sze-lai, pronounced accusation: "The defendants called on protesters to besiege the headquarters and chanted slogans that undermine the police force".

[59] On 31 December 2020, local media reported that Chow had been transferred to the maximum-security Tai Lam Centre for Women (where she was previously remanded), after she was classified as a Category A prisoner.

[63] US House of Representative Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement calling "China’s brutal sentencing of these young champions of democracy in Hong Kong" as "appalling".

"[66] UK Foreign Minister Dominic Raab issued a statement urging "Hong Kong and Beijing authorities to bring an end to their campaign to stifle opposition" in response to the prison sentences of the three pro-democracy activists.

[69] Maria Adebahr, a Germany's foreign ministry spokesperson, stated that the prison terms are "another building block in a series of worrisome developments that we have seen in connection with human and civil rights in Hong Kong during the last year.

[76] On 3 December 2023, Chow made her first public announcement on Instagram since her release in June 2021, that she had already moved to Canada in September 2023 to study for a master's degree at University of Toronto.

She also said she had decided to jump bail in her national security case by not returning to Hong Kong later in December to report to police, out of consideration for her personal safety and well-being.

Secretary for Security Chris Tang said that "Chow's behavior might affect other arrested suspects who are showing genuine remorse and are earnestly trying to turn over a new leaf."