Mr. Mc Quinide
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BRITISH NATIONALITY BILL: DESCENT are their children
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One of the most difficult aspects of the British Nationalty Bill now awaiting Report Stage in the Lords has always been the provisions it contains for British citizens to pass on their citizenship to children born abroad. We discussed this matter in H Committee (H(80)13th) before the Bill was introduced, but the proposals on which we then agreed have run into very serious Parliamentary and policy difficulties. The prpose of this letter is to inform you and other colleagues of the present position and how I mw propose to tackle the problem.
This is a complicated matter, and I apologise for the length of this letter. The background, put as briefly as possible, is this. We are creating in the Bill a new British citizenship which will carry an automatic right of entry to the United Kingdom. Within the category of British citizens, there are two groups: British citizens otherwise than by descent and British citizens by descent.
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British citizens otherwise than by descent all those born here. (It also includes those naturalised or, in general, registered in the United Kingdom). A British citizen in this first grow passes on his or her British citizenship to any child born overseas. But such a child is a British citizen by descent. A British citizen by descent as the Bill stands at present can pass on his or her citizen- ship to a child born overseas only if certain conditions are met. It is the provisions setting out these conditions and thus governing the position of children in a second or subsequent generation born abroad which have come under sustained attack.
The Bill provides for British citizenship to be passed on beyond the first generation to the children of Crown servants. It also provides, in order to meet the claims of our overseas exporters and businessmen, for a process of registration whereby those British citizens in employment. overseas with links with the United Kingdom could obtain citizenship for their children born abroad. There is no limit to the number of generations for which citizenship by descent could be passed in this way. During the passage of the Bill through the Commons, the employment links which might qualify a child in the second generation born overseas for registration were greatly widened, but even so some gaps remained and many of our supporters were known to favour more generous provisions. The House of Lords (mainly from our own side) have sièzed on the descent provisions and criticised them relentlessly. It is quite clear that if we do not
The Rt. Hon. Lord Carrington K.C.M.G. M.C.
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