CODE 18-77
AWO Ltd. 7/84
Mr. Hoare HKD
CONFIDENTIAL
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22 JAN 1985
HONG KONG; DRAFT ORDER-IN-COUNCIL
1.
.:
Mr Hill has passed over to me his papers on the nationality implications of the Hong Kong Bill and the draft order-in- council. The comments in this minute relate to that order- in-council, and also to the letter sent by Mr Emery of the Home Office to you of 4 January 1985.
-
2. Article 2 of the draft order-in-council
together with the provisions of the Immigration Ordinance of Hong Kong set out in the First Schedule to the Order represent the latest proposals by the Home Office to tackle the problem of defining, in the context of British nationality law, those persons who come within the phrase "All persons who on 30 June 1997 are, by virtue of a connection with Hong Kong, British Dependent Territories citizens under the law in force in the United Kingdom" in paragraph (a) of the United Kingdom memorandum. In my view those proposals are still not satisfactory.
3.
As far as I understand the present position, some thought has been given as to the extent to which the expression BDTC "by virtue of a connection with Hong Kong" should extend beyond the case of the BDTC who has connections with Hong Kong, but no connections with any other Dependent Territory, whether personal connections (ie his own birth, registration, natural- isation or adoption there) or otherwise. In particular, the position has been considered in relation to:-
a)
b)
birth in Hong Kong,
and ale a
"separate" BDTCS, that is, BDTCs who could be said to have acquired that status by reason of a connection in- volving only Hong Kong, but who also could be said to have acquired that status by virtue of a connection only involving another Dependent Territory (or conceivably Territories). The
clearest instance of this would be a person born in a foreign country who had a parent who was a BDTC by birth in, say,
say, Gibraltar. That person would be a "separate" BDTC in that he can prove that he is a BDTC by means of a route in which Hong Kong need never be mentioned (under Section 16 BNA 1981).
"mixed" BDTCs, that is, BDTCs who acquire that status by a route which involves Hong Kong and another Dependent Territory. An instance of this would be either a person who was born in Gibraltar to a parent who was a BDTC by virtue of a connection with Hong Kong, or, who
parent who
BDTC
CONFIDENTIAL
/was