(Amendment) (No 2) Bill 1982 is to amend the Immigration Ordinance to specify which BDTCs will be Hong Kong belongers, i.e. persons having the right to land in Hong Kong and to remain free of conditions of stay and who can not be deported for any reason. The Bill, therefore, provides under clause
14 that
(a)
(b)
1
from 1 January 1983 no one will become a Hong Kong belonger unless he/she is a BDTC by reason of connection with Hong Kong;
!
as a transitional measure, all those who are Hong Kong belongers at 31 December 1982, but who do not become. BDTCS, will continue to be Hong Kong belongers during their lifetime. The effect of this is that
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
Commonwealth citizens, other than CUKCS, who have been married to Hong Kong belongers;
CUKCS males, other than those who are CUKCS by connection with Hong Kong, who have been married to Hong Kong belongers; and
Commonwealth citizens, other than CUKCS, who are the children of female Hong Kong belongers
will retain the status of Hong Kong belonger although they will not become BDTCs automatically at 1 January 1983. These provisions are analogous to the provisions of the BNA 1981 which enable those Commonwealth citizens who have acquired the right of abode in UK, but who will not become BCs, to retain that right for their lifetime.
7
The provisions at paragraph 6(a) above represent significant changes in principle when compared with the current law, although the number of persons affected will be relatively small. For example -
(a)
as BDTC will not be acquired automatically by children born in Hong Kong not all children born here on or after 1 January 1983 will be Hong Kong belongers. It is estimated that of the some 87,000 children. born in Hong Kong per year less than one per cent will not acquire BDTC by birth. A non-BDTC and thus a non-Hong Kong belonger will be a child born here both of whose parents fall, for example, jointly or severally into one of the following categories
CONFIDENTIAL