CONFIDENTIAL
1083
Mr Hill
D F B le Breton Esq
NTD
FCO
BRITISH EMBASSY
THE HAGUE
30 OCTOBER 1986
M. Later copied
Grateful for
advice
from you
така We spoke
in due course
how best to respond to the Dutch,
RECEIVED IN
Tom Angth 3/11
6 NOV 1986
Dear le Breton,
INDEX
V
SISA COZA
Dtuden
HONG KONG CERTIFICATE OF IDENTITY HOLDERS IN THE NETHERLANDS
1. In my letter of 21 October about lobbying on the BN (0) passport, I said I would write to you about the issue of Dutch concern about Hong Kong Certificate of Identity holders. You will recall that this subject has been raised by the Dutch in Hong Kong (Hong Kong telno 2947 of 11 September) as well as in talks in London with the Benelux countries about the 1963 Visa Abolition Agreement.
2.
As you may know, the conditions on the inside back cover of the Certificate of identity state that "the Certificate will normally be cancelled if the holder obtains a national passport or other travel document" and that "should the holder take up residence outside Hong Kong he should apply to the appropriate authorities for a travel document". Accordingly, when a CI expires, (they are valid for 10 years) the holder takes it along to the Consulate-General in Amsterdam, who on the strength of the Dutch permit stamped inside it, issue a letter confirming that the CI has expired. The individual then takes this letter to the Dutch authorities, who will then issue a Dutch Aliens
(Dutch aliens' Passport, into which a residence permit can be stamped. law states that such a permit can only be stamped into a valid travel document hence the need for the Dutch authorities to issue an Aliens Passport once the CI has expired.)
3. The Dutch concern is essentially that once an individual's CI expires, he or she can automatically acquire, by the process described above, a Dutch Aliens Passport, and (what is more important) lose his or her returnability to Hong Kong. However in the Dutch view return- ability to Hong Kong is lost before the right of permanent settlement in the Netherlands has been acquired. It is this loophole which the Dutch wish to close.
CONFIDENTIAL
14.