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Sir, Mr Hilton Cheong-Leen sought clarification on a couple of
points regarding the mechanics of procuring the new BN(0) passport. He
asked whether a BDTC could trade-in his BN(0) passport for a BDTC pasaport
before 1997 should he become dissatisified with his BN (0) passport. The
answer is yes. There is nothing in law or in passport issuing practice
that would prevent a BDTC who has obtained a BN(O) passport from mwitching
to a BDTC passport provided he does so sometime before 1997, bearing in
mind that generally speaking passports with a validity of less than two
years are not known to exist. But in line with Her Majesty's Government'
established practice on the issue of passports he can only hold either
a BN(0) or a BDTC passport at any one time. Accordingly if he does not
hold a BN(0) passport on the 1 July 1997 he will have no British
J.
. Nationality or British passport unless he would otherwise be statelesa.
Furthermore, BDTC passports issued after the 1 July 1987 will have
progressively shorter validity periods as 1997 approachen. Bo the answer
to Mr Hilton Cheong-Leen's second question is that BN (O) paasports will
be valid for 10 years in line with the normal validity period of British
passporta. As the process for registration as a BN(O) will be an integral
part of the process for acquiring; a BN(0) passport, there will be no need
for a BUTC separately to register as a BN (0) once he has acquired a
BN(0) passport.
Sir, my honourable and learned friend Mr Martin Lee is not convinced
that BDTC should apply for a BN(0) pansport when it becomes available.
There are, of course, two main reasons why the BN(0) passport is being
introduced in 1987. The first is to provide an alternative to the BDTC
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