HONG KONG NATIONALITY ORDER IN COUNCIL
POINTS FOR CRITICISM
4.
ACQUISITION OF BN (0) STATUS: BN (0) REGISTRATION
CRITICISM
1.
BN (0)s should not have to register. It is sufficient to
provide for them to acquire BN (0) passports The UK Memorandum
makes no mention of registration, only of passport acquisition.
PROVISION IN THE ORDER
2.
Article 4(2)
requires a person to be registered as
a British National (Overseas).
Line to Take
3.
The method of acquisition in the Order is described as
"registration" in order to be consistent with the way in which
British nationality has for many years been acquired as an
entitlement.
4.
But registration and the issuing of a BN(0) passport will
be parts of the same process. There will be the minimum of
formalities. Applicants will apply simultaneously for
BN(0) status and the passport that goes with it. In practice
registration itself will normally involve no more than the entry
of each persons details on a central record, which will constitute
the register. Furthermore, there will be no charge for the
registration, only for the issue of the passport.
Background
5.
Hong Kong were initially reluctant to have a registration
They argued:
provision.
a)
that the term "registration" is an emotive
one, and likely to conjure up in the minds of the
Hong Kong public a lengthy administrative process and
E.E