CONFIDENTIAL
Allegations of Discrimination on Racial Grounds
6. It was alleged by some correspondents that the ideas in the Green Faper discriminated between Citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies on grounds
of race; but this is not so. The proposal was that everyone born in this
country, irrespective of the colour, race or nationality of the parents,
would become British Citizens automatically, as would those immigrants who
had acquired Citizenship of the United Kingdom and Colonies by naturalisation
or registration here. And a person born abroad would have British Citizenship
automatically, with the right of entry to this country, if the father or
mother was a British Citizen by birth or naturalisation etc. in this country.
Transmission of Citizenship by Women.
7. There was general agreement with the Government's intention to grant women
the right to transmit their British citizenship to children born abroad on
the same terms as men.
Transmission of Citizenship Beyond the First Generation
8. There has been a large amount of correspondence, both from individuals living abroad, and from people representing British firms overseas, about
the transmission of citizenship.. Without exception, they were in favour of
citizenship passing beyond the first generation born abroad, perhaps by consular registration, if there were close ties with this country or special circumstances, such as the parents being in Crown Service or working for international organisations at the time of the birth. Paragraphs 56 and 58 of the White Paper set out the special arrangements proposed for such people.
Citizenship by Marriage
9. There was also general agreement that men and women should be treated equally in the matter of acquiring their spouse's British Citizenship, but there was no consensus of opinion on which of the four options for achieving this as set out in the Green Paper should be adopted.
Naturalisation
10. It was generally felt that the language test should be retained bat administered flexibly where the situation merits this, as in the case of elderly people. Opinion was divided on the suggestion that objective tests