CONFIDENTIAL
Other Commonwealth countries, mostly in East Africa, pelitea
e.
say or re-entry
in the United Kingdom who would acquire the right of wafatsh ery for the first time,, They would under the trans-
and hereby be pess of see resinchovy on s itional arrangements become British Citizens In
altering the law of nationality the Government would make suitable transitional arrangements to preserve entitlements to entry which individuals now alive already have. The obligation which it has assumed towards holders of United Kingdom passports from East Africa would not be affected and the Special Voucher Scheme would con-
tinue.
Among the proposed permanent arrangements for British Citizenship some represent important departures from current practice (references are to paragraphs of the
Green Paper). The proposals are furt forward nichent
i. Citizenship would descend equally through the
male and female line to persons born after the operative date of a new law. This is in line with the Government's policy of eliminating dis- crimination based on sex. (Paras 36 to 39). ii. The acquisition of citizenship by descent would
normally be limited to the first generation born abroad. At present citizenship may be passed on by Consular registration of births in foreign countries without limit. (Paras 40 to 44).
iii. The acquisition of citizenship by virtue of marriage
would also be on the same basis for men and women.
(Paras 46 to 48).
iv. A more restrictive attitude to dual nationality
would be adopted than at present. With the possible exception of persons acquiring the nationality of a spouse, those persons who voluntarily acquire another citizenship would automatically lose British Citizenship, and
those who apply for British Citizenship would be required to renounce their existing citizenship.
f. The permanent arrangements for acquiring British Overseas Citizenship would be less widely drawn so as to link the citizenship to the right of entry to a dependency. The citizenship would not pass automatically to a child born outside a dependency unless the father was a citizen by
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timent at this stage:-
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