CONFIDENTI AL
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The Number of Citizenships
The provision in the Home Secretary's proposals which
causes most difficulty for the FCO is the one to create two
citizenships:-
(i) British Citizenship (for those with the right of
abode in the UK); and
(ii) British Overseas Citizenship (for the remainder).
The purpose of this provision is to distinguish, for
immigration purposes, between those persons who belong to
the UK and those who do not.
When this proposal was first made public in the 1977
Green Paper on Nationality it drew strong protests from
the Governments of Hong Kong, Gibraltar and the Falkland
Islands, on the grounds:-
a) that the new British Overseas Citizenship would
bé generally regarded as a second class citizenship;
b) if the present citizenship of the UK and Colonies
was to be divided, it would be wrong to lump
together those living in existing Dependent
Territories, who had a direct constitutional relationship with the British Government, and
those with no strong links with and no right of
abode. in - either the UK or any of the Dependent
Territories.
CONFIDENTIAL
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