CONFIDENTIAL
ACQUISITION OF NEW STATUS AND BENEFITS TO BE ENJOYED
It is possible that Lords will Dress for specific statements to be made in the Bill about the procedures for the acquisition of the new status and of the passports pertaining to it. Ministers may wish to
take the line that it would not be appropriate to include such details in the Bill. Its function is to provide an enabling power for the drafting of
an Order in Council, which will itself be
debated in Parliament.
There has not yet been time to reach final
decisions on all the detailed arrangements that
that will
will be required. These arrangements will necessitate consultation with the Hong Kong Government and the Executive Council of Hong Kong.
STATELESSNESS
There
was considerable concern in the House of Commons on the
question of
and Lords will no doubt also wish to
statelessness,
raise the question.
The Government has stated clearly that it is its intention that no
former Hong Kong BDTC, nor any child born on or after 1 July 1997 to
such a person, should be made stateless as a result of the
arrangements envisaged in the Bill.
they are not
All former Hong Kong BDTCs will be able
will be able to acquire BN(O) status i f they wish before 1 July 1997. Any BDTCs who do not acquire BN (0)
and would otherwise be stateless, for example if
Chinese
nationals and do not hold any other nationality, will become BOCs on 1 July 1997. The children born on or after 1 July 1997 to former
Hong Kong BDTC s who are Chinese nationals will have Chinese nationality. Children born to non-Chinese former BDTCs will acquire BOC status at birth if they would otherwise be stateless.
There could also be concern about potential statelessness of
subsequent generations of non-Chinese BDTCs.
Ministers will wish to take the line that the first generation of
children born after 30 June 1997 to non-Chinese former
former BDTC's will
automatically acquire BOC status at birth if they would otherwise be
CONFIDENTIAL