Dependent Territories citizen, nor any child born after June 1997
to
such a person, would remain stateless as a result of the agreement.
In response to further representations from a number of quarters, this undertaking was extended during the Committee stage of the Bill in another place to cover the grandchildren of former Hong Kong British Dependent Territories citzens if they were born stateless.
15.
Our present proposals are set out in Article 6. It provides
that any former Hong Kong British Dependent Territories citizen who
for any reason has not acquired BN (0) status, and would otherwise be
if
stateless
in
1997, will automatically become a British Overseas
citizen on 1 July 1997. Any of their children born after June 1997,
if they would otherwise be stateless, will also acquire British
Overseas citizenship at birth; and any of their grandchildren,
born stateless, will be entitled to be registered as British
Overseas citizens. They will be entitled to BN (0) status but if for
any reason they do not become BN (0) s, they will nevertheless have a recognised nationality status,
and So will
the descendants of BN (0) s
and British Overseas citizens until well in to the middle of the next
century.
16.
The
2.
Government recognise, of course, that nationality status
alone is not sufficient. It is equally important that those now
established in Hong Kong should continue to have a right of abode
there. Clearly, right of abode in Hong Kong after June 1997 cannot be secured by holding any form of British nationality, since Hong Kong will no longer be part of British territory. For this reason
the agreement made separate provisions to safeguard rights of abode
in Hong Kong after 1997 to all those who have been ordinarily
resident for seven years in Hong Kong either before or after the
establishment of the Hong
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and
who have taken it as their place of permanent residence. The same
guarantee extends to their children born in Hong Kong,
and also to
anyone who had right of abode only in Hong Kong before 1 July 1997.
They cover all the non-ethnic Chinese British Dependent Territories
(6)