E.R..
COMMENTS ON PART I OF DRAFT WHITE PAPER
Annex
Children born in the United Kingdom
The provisions in the 1981 Act under which a small number of
children born in the United Kingdom will no longer be British
citizens at birth were strongly attacked by the Opposition. The
relevant Rules will be scrutinised closely. They follow, however, the approach which we indicated to Parliament we would adopt, by
allowing such children to be given leave to enter or remain in this country on the same conditions as their parents, and I con- sider they are fair and reasonable. If parents are here unlaw-
fully a child will not normally be given leave to enter or remain, but in certain cases a child could be admitted for a short period.
If a child had remained here he would not be removed without his
parents: The draft Rules include provision for special cases
where there are genuine compassionate circumstances.
Husbands and fiances
The text of the relevant Rules was approved by H Committee
on 14 June.
Businessmen, self-employed and persons of independent means
Persons may at present qualify under the Rules if they have
£100,000 capital or income of £10,000 a year. These limits were
agreed when we were considering the 1980 Rules and in the case of
the income limit, at least, were rather low at that time.
proposed increases take account of subsequent inflation.
Nationals of European Community countries
The
As indicated in H(82) 28 the changes are necessary, to meet objections to the existing Rules by the Commission and spell out
more clearly the right of EC nationals under the Treaty of Rome. I propose to take the opportunity to end the arrangements under
which Community nationals, admitted for more than six months but
not yet accepted as permanent residents, have to register with the police. The present Rules have no advantages for immigration
control so far as these nationals are concerned since there is no
legal sanction if they fail to register. Moreover, Community nationals cannot be charged as other nationals are for registra- tion. The requirement on Community nationals to obtain Residence Permits will continue to apply.