CODE 18-77
SS 8/78
With?
Reference
Mr Willan for Jr..!!
HKK 340li PAJ22.4 Min and denten
827.41 not
зна
MILOVED IN RI
0 2 DEC 1980
Mr Clift Hong Kong and General Department
INDEX
PA
Awal2
1257
This decan't wall Two good. M. discuss very
soon.
B
17/11
1.
The Home Office have confirmed that they are opposed to the inclusion of locally-recruited civil servants in the dependencies in the definition of Crown Servant for the purpose of the transmission of British Citizenship under the new nationality act. Overall I think they are right, but I have some sympathy for the people concerned and we have been looking for an alternative course.
The problems of including them in the definition of Crown Servant are
2.
-
To
a. The CBI have recently petitioned for a more extensive
definition of businessmen for transmission purposes and comparable treatment for civil servants. To do so would create very serious administrative problems of workloads for the Home Office and our posts overseas, enough to undermine the network of proposals for transmission. dilute the definition of Crown Servant still, further to include dependency Crown Servants who are recruited in the UK would make it even more difficult to defend the proposals - in which the Diplomatic Service have a direct interest.
b. To include UK recruited civil servants increases the claims
of the locally engaged Chinese administrative officers and police who have petitioned for this treatment and whom the Governor estimated at numbering 30,000 in Hong Kong alone. I realise that there are differences between the two but I suspect that any attempt to give preferential treatment based primarily on whether the presentase comes from the UK or Hong Kong seems uncomfortably discriminatory.
c. It would suggest that their first loyalty is to the UK
and not to Hong Kong.
3. I think it would be more appropriate if we were to seek to include the UK-recruited Hong Kong civil servants in the businessmens' provision. This would at least ensure that their children would acquire British citizenship, though they would not be British citizens by birth.
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4. I realise that the UK-recruited civil servants would regard this solution - assuming we could persuade the Home Office to adopt it as a second best, but I think we should need some very convincing arguments to do more. I realise that some departments have some
/sectional