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RESTRICTED
Bucine. Ron T.T.
BRITISH TRADE COMMISSION IN HONG KONG
7th Floor, Shell House, Queen's Road, Central, HONG KONG Mail Address: P.O. Box No. 528, Hong Kong
Bunny,
Cable Address: "Uktrade Hongkong"
Telephone- 230176
4 February, 1969
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It has frequently been alleged to me that it is more" easy for Hong Kong businessmen to obtain visas to travel to (say) Germany or the United States or Japan than it is for the same businessmen to obtain visas to travel to the United Kingdom. Not infrequently I receive appeals for assistance from Hong Kong businessmen who wish to go to England to buy British exports. When I receive such appeals I have made it my policy to write a personal letter to the Director of Immigration of the Hong Kong Government, and he and his Department have always been most helpful in trying to hasten matters along in the individual cases which I have referred to them.
2.
I recently called at the Immigration Department to examine with them the procedures they have to go through in order to grant a visa to a Hong Kong resident to enter the United Kingdom. I also discussed with them the allegations that it is easier for a Hong Kong businessman to obtain a visa to enter the United Kingdom if he applies at a British Consulate at some place other than Hong Kong, together with the allega- tion that the United States, German, etc. Consuls in Hong Kong grant visas for entry to their countries far more readily than do the Immigration Department for travel to the United Kingdom.
3.
My discussions led me to the belief that the allegations mentioned above are true. For this reason, therefore, I write to you. You may be able to persuade the Home Office either to relax their requirements or, more hopefully, to streamline their organisation. The most helpful thing that could happen would be for somebody from the appropriate department to come to Hong Kong to examine the situation on the ground.. I learn from the local Immigration Department that they have received no visits of consequence for over four years, nor have they felt it their duty to take up matters with the Home Office direct, as they regard themselves purely as the agents of the Inmigration authorities in Britain and do exactly what these authorities require. I am aware that the Hong Kong Director of Immigration has called on the Home Office when he has been on leave in U.K., but this is not quite the same thing.
W. S. Carter, Esq.,
Hong Kong Department,
Foreign and Commonwealth Office,
TART
131
London, S.W.1.
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Every effort is made to ensure that the information given herein is accurate, but no legal responsibility is accepted for any errors or omis sions in that information and no responsibility in accepted in regard to the standing of any firms, companies, or individuals mentioned.