CONFIDENTIAL
(b) that as explained in paragraph 81.
below, it will be proposed
in the Bill that a child born overseas to a British Citizen by descent
would be entitled in some circumstances to be registered as a British
Citizen. This provision would help parents whose child is born during
their temporary absence overseas.
55. The Government will propose that as a general rule British Citizenship
shall descend only to the first generation of children born abroad to
British Citizens who are born in the United Kingdom.
56. The ability under the present Act to transmit citizenship by consular
registration beyond the first generation born in foreign countries is of
benefit to many people connected with British firms and other United Kingdom
based organisations operating there. The withdrawal of this arrangement will
be replaced by one which will in general give people with such United Kingdom
connections greater benefits. The proposal in the Bill will be to the effect
that a child born in any foreign or Commonwealth country to a parent who is
immediately before the time of coming into force of the Act a Citizen of the
United Kingdom and Colonies of first generation born outside the
United Kingdom will be registered on application as a British Citizen if the
parent can show that he has a close connection with the United Kingdom. This
close connection will be defined in terms of the parent being in full time
employment with a firm or organisation based in the United Kingdom or
controlled by one so based, or his having had a period of residence in the
United Kingdom, or a defined combination of both. This arrangement will provide for citizenship for many years ahead, since the transmitting perent in
the future might himself have been an infant when the Act comes into force.
And when it is remembered that citizenship will in future descend to the first
generation born abroad in the female as well as the male line, this arrangement
should provide a suitable degree of transmission for people with close
connections with the United Kingdom who spend their careers abroad in the service of United Kingdom-based organisations.
57. Indications in correspondence are that some people living abroad would
like even more generous treatment, amounting in effect to a ius sanguinis
with no limit on the number of generations, provided a parent is connected
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