good deal of correspondence from abroad was received on this subject. Most of the people who wrote were in favour of citizenship passing beyond thirst generation born abroad if there were close ties with this country such as on the parents being at the time of the birth in Crown Service, or the service of an international organisation, or working for a United Kingdom-based company
overseas.
51. The Government think it is clearly right that, as indicated in the Green Paper, women should transmit citizenship on equal terms with men to their children born abroad in future, and they will propose accordingly in the Bill.
52. The Government also think that any distinction between births in Commonwealth and foreign countries (such as is contained in the present arrangements for transmission by consular registration) can no longer be
ustified.
53. The Government do not underestimate the strength of feeling on citizenship by descent, particularly among families of British origin living abroad. It has been urged that the right to pass on citizenship indefinitely to future generations of children by means of registering births at consulates should be extended to people living in Commonwealth countries; but the result of doing this, especially when parents of both sexes could transmit, would be to increase enormously the pool of British Citizens living abroad who would nevertheless have the right to come and live here which they would not have under present legislation. As time went on many such children born abroad would have only very tenuous connections with the United Kingdom. The Government could not justify extending generally the grant of citizenship by descent without any limitation on the number of generations to which it would pass.
54. There has also been much correspondence suggesting a more limited measure of transmission, for the benefit of people serving abroad in the service of international organisations and of British based business firms. Some families have a tradition of service overseas which may span many generations, and people who work abroad in this way make a valued contribution to the United Kingdom's economic life, and many of them maintain strong connections with this country although spending a great part, or all, of their lives abroad. There are however other people who have emigrated or who have returned to the countries from which they or their parents came to the United Kingdom. It is relevant to bear in mind two points:-
(a) that in successive generations children born abroad tend to identify themselves more and more with their countries of birth; and after the first generation (or even at an earlier stage) will usually acquire the citizenship of their country of birth;
(b) that it will be proposed in the Bill that a child born overseas, one of whose parents is a citizen by descent, and who subsequently comes to the United Kingdom with its parents to live, is to be entitled on completing 3 years here to be registered under the provisions relating to minor children. 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.
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56. The Government think it right however that an exception to this general rul hould be made for the children of people who spend a large proportion of the areer abroad serving British interests. Many will benefit from the provision that in future women born in the United Kingdom will transmit citizenship to their children born abroad. But in addition the Bill will provide that where a British Citizen by descent can show that he has a continuing close connection with the United Kingdom, his or her minor children will be registered on appli- cation as Birtish Citizens. In defining the required close connection a number of factors will be taken into account: but the essential one will be related to the length of time for which, at the time of the child's birth, the parent has been in employment with a business, or certain other types of organisation, based in the United Kingdom; or in certain forms of employment with international bodies. The Government are considering further whether the transmission of citizenship in this way should be made subject to the renunciation of other citizenships.
57. A separate provision will be included for the children of Crown Servants. This will principally benefit children of members of the Armed Forces and members of the diplomatic service who as a rule do not acquire the citizenship of the country in which they are born. Such parents are based in the United Kingdom but are liable to spend a high proportion of their careers abroad, and it will be proposed that their children born overseas shall become citizens by birth.
ACQUISITION OF CITIZENSHIP BY NATURALISATION--GENERAL
58. We come now to the acquisition of citizenship by a voluntary act on the part of an adult person. The word 'naturalisation' has traditionally been reserved for the granting of nationality and citizenship to foreigners and British Protected Persons. But the distinction between naturalisation and registration is blurred, for example because foreign wives and children acquire citizenship by registration, while in recent years following the Immigration Act of 1971, the registration of a Commonwealth citizen on grounds of residence, etc. has been by a process very similar to that of the naturalisation of a foreigner. Other countries, e.g. Australia, use the same term in relation to both classes, and to continue the use of the word 'registration' would do nothing to reduce the confusion in the use of that word. The Government think it would now be better to use the term 'naturalisation' to denote the grant of citizenship to an adult following a period of residence in the United Kingdom, or of Crown Service, and that other types of acquisition should be known as 'registration'. It will be convenient to refer to citizenship acquired by either naturalisation or registration as 'citizenship by grant'.
The Residence Qualification
59. The present ways in which residence may serve as a qualification may be summarised as follows:-
(i) an alien may apply for naturalisation on grounds of residence, defined as being one year immediately before the application is made and 4 years out of the preceding 7;
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