CONFIDENTIAL
DE SKBY070100Z
<<<<
introduced, it would be inevitable that, after a period, serious
difficulties would arise: BN (O) passport holders would arrive in
the UK without entry certificates and would object to being
questioned by immigration officers, believing that they were
entitled to enter the UK automatically. Some would inevitably be
refused admission. They would certainly claim that, by agreeing
to the endorsement, HMG had misled them as to
to their rights.
While fully realising the pressure there now is from Hong Kong
for such an endorsement, Ministers feel it would be wrong to
embark on a course which would almost certainly lead to their
being accused, with some justification, of deliberately misleading travellers.
3.
We have been giving further urgent thought to what more
might be done to allay anxieties in Hong Kong. Ministers intend
to state clearly in the House of Commons debate on the Order in
Council what the true position is, emphasising that there will be
no visa requirement for BN(O) passport holders to enter the UK,
and that entry certificates are an optional convenience. They
will also make it clear that we are determined to make the
maximum effort to ensure that BN (O) passports are accepted in
third countries in just the same way as BDTC ones.
4.
who
We have been in touch with Home Office officials
are concerned to be as helpful as possible in this difficult area
and have discussed in a preliminary way two other ideas which you may wish to consider. One is that, despite the general
objections to endorsements in passports, the Home Office might be
able to agree to an endorsement which, as well as stating that a
BN(O) passport holder did not require a visa or entry certificate
to visit the UK, also referred to his being subject to the
3