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Council of Hongkong Indian Associations
HONG KONG (BRITISH NATIONALITY) ORDER
On 30th April 1986, the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Mr. Douglas Hurd, wrote to our Council rejecting our case for full British Citizenship and the right of abode in the United Kingdom. His letter has failed to meet our concerns for the following reasons:-
(a)
(b)
(c)
(a)
He argues that we will have a right to live in Hong Kong as a matter of law. Our complaint is that we have no right of abode in any part of the territory of the country of which we will supposedly be nationals, that is the UK. The practical consequence is that our right to live in Hong Kong is subject to the powers of a country, China, of which we are not nationals.
He argues that the Chinese authorities have indicated that we may apply for Chinese nationality and that HMG "expect to have further exchanges about this with the Chinese Government in the future". The reality is that we have no reason to believe that we will be granted Chinese nationality. On the contrary, the Chinese Government have indicated that they regard our nationality as a matter for HMG.
He argues that to accede to our claims "could unfairly lead to doubts about the position of the many other British Overseas Citizens in many parts of the world". We would hope and expect that HMG were able to treat each case on its facts and its merits as it did in the case of the people of Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands.
He argues that to accede to our claim "would raise uncertainty about the size of this country's future commitments". The number of persons affected is 10,000. If HMG are concerned about future generations, we suggest that there should be a registration process with a cut-off date designed to identify those people who have only British Nationality and no other nationality available to them. The British Nationality Act 1981 itself ensures that it is impossible to pass on British citizenship automatically to more than one generation of children born abroad.
Contd./