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Notes on a meeting with Mr. Lars Fredén, Vice-Consul, Consulate General of Sweden, on 26 March 1985 at 3 p.m.
Workload
1.
Mr. Freden indicated the workload involved in
issuing visas to HK BDTCs and Taiwan residents was
disproportionate to the size of their staff. He was
personally doubtful of the need for visas for HK BDTCs.
Overstaying/illegal immigration problem in Sweden
2.
Mr. Fredén indicated that Sweden is a society of immigrants. Of its total population of 8 million, 1 million are first-generation immigrants. The main sources of the immigrants, legal or illegal, are East Europe, Greece and the Middle East. They have had
problems of overstaying Hong Kong Chinese working in
Chinese restaurants, to which I pointed out that such problem could arise even if visas were required. visitors from Hong Kong did not pose any problem.
Otherwise,
Visa-requirements of European countries for HK BDTCS
3.
Referring to the fact sheet provided by the Immigration Department, I pointed out that of the lỗ EC
countries, only Spain and West Germany still required Ivisas from HK BDTCS. The French waived visas for visits
of unspecified periods since early 1983, and Austria
waived visa requirements for visits not exceeding three
months last year, even before the conclusion of the talks
on Hong Kong's future. They do not seem to have
encountered any problem. I explained also that we had
a problem with Denmark, in that Danes did not require
visas to visit Hong Kong for up to three months but
HK BDTCS required visas to visit Denmark, notwithstanding
a Visa Abolition Agreement between UK and Denmark in
1947 and expanded in 1959 to cover dependent territories.
/Any
CONFIDENTIAL