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b) argue that the provisions to guard against statelessness are not
sufficiently spelt out and that the Bill should show the status to be
acquired by those who would otherwise be stateless.
16. Ministers will wish to take the line that the detailed provisions of the
Order in Council have to be fully agreed by Hong Kong, and that there
was insufficient time to do this early enough to meet the need for the
enabling Bill to be passed in time for ratification of the agreement in
June. The timing of the Order in Council has not yet been decided, but it will probably need to be in place by 1986 in order to fit in with the
normal 10-year validity period of passports, and to give Hong Kong as much
time as possible to issue passports to all who want them.
17. On the question of the title Ministers will wish to point out that this
needs to be agreed not only with Hong Kong but also with the Chinese.
But the lack of an agreed title does not mean that the substance is
missing. The new status will equate in all major respects to BDTC, except
for transmissibility.
(If a title can be agreed with Hong Kong and the Chinese it may be
possible to announce it during the Second Reading Debate. It will if
necessary be incorporated into the Bill).
[To be updated in the light of Chinese reactions].
18.On the question of statelessness, Ministers will wish to take the line
that the safeguards are quite explicit. No former Hong Kong BDTC; nor
any child born after June 1997 to such a person, will be left without a
form of British nationality if he or she would otherwise be stateless.
Again the exact form of this nationality will have to be agreed with Hong Kong. It is intended that sucha pasos stund acquie Butil Overseas
Citizenship.
The nationality provisions in the UK Memorandum
19. Another likely area of difficulty will be the nationality provisions set
out in the UK Memorandum itself. Ministers could face criticism both
from those who believe we are doing too much for the people of Hong Kong
and from those who feel that HMG have done too little.
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