British Protected Persons), but who do not have such close ties with the United Kingdom as to become British Citizens. These people too would have to be given a new status. To leave those of them who are citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies with that status when many of them have little or no connection by birth, ancestry or residence with the United Kingdom or any Colony would prolong a misleading and unsatisfactory feature of the present situation. Instead, both they and the British Protected Persons might be known as British Overseas Citizens, thus bringing their status more closely into accord with present-day circumstances. The aim might be to limit this citizenship eventually to those who have the right of entry to a dependency. British Overseas Citizenship would then carry with it the right of entry to a dependency just as British Citizenship would carry with it the right of entry to the United Kingdom. But this, it must be stressed, would be a long-term aim.
18. With the conferment of British Citizenship on some citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies, and British Overseas Citizenship on the remainder, citizenship of the United Kingdom and Colonies would disappear.
19. British Citizens and British Overseas Citizens would be
eligible to hold passports describing them as such and the
British Government would be entitled to afford the same consular
protection to holders of both citizenships.
20.
Some possible arrangements for a British Citizenship and a British Overseas Citizenship are discussed in detail below. For both citizenships, these would fall into two parts:
(a)
arrangements for deciding which citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies (and other persons eligible to hold British passports) alive when a
new scheme came into force were to become either
British Citizens of British Overseas Citizens
that is, the transitional arrangements; and
(b) the arrangements for acquiring the citizenship by
birth, naturalisation etc. after the scheme was
introduced - that is, the permanent arrangements.
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