CONFIDENTIAL
Transmission of Citizenship
6. On the permanent arrangements, there has been criticism.
of the suggestion (in paragraph 73) that British Overseas
Citizens who have no connection with an existing dependency
should not pass on their citizenship to their children; and
of the suggestion (also in paragraph 73) that women should
not pass on British Overseas Citizenship to their children
on the same basis as men, because of the immigration
restrictions needed by dependencies.
Grants of Citizenship in Dependencies
7. There has been no comment on the suggestion that the
grant of naturalisation in the dependencies should remain at
the Governor's discretion, rather than be dependent on
objective criteria.
Representations on Behalf of Particular Dependencies
8. In addition to comments about the position of individuals
there have been representations from influential groups in
certain dependencies objecting to the idea that people
connected with them should have a citizenship different from
that held by people born etc in the United Kingdom.
a) The Government and Opposition parties in Gibraltar
have pressed strongly for their people to be granted
British Citizenship. They have argued that their position
vis-à-vis the Spanish Government will be weakened
if it appears that their links with the United Kingdom
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