F
CUNI SE DEFINII PAL
4.
There are apparently two types of residence permit issued by the Dutch authorities:
(i)
(ii)
a Residence Permit (Verblijfsvergunning): this allows an individual to stay in the Netherlands for a period of one year (and is renewable);
A Settlement Permit (Vesteringsvergunning): this gives the holder more rights and priviledges (eg. he can claim social security benefit) but does not give him permanent right of abode in the Netherlands. It may be applied for auto- matically after an individual has had his Residence Permit extended 5 times.
The Dutch maintain that neither of these permits gives the holder the right of 'settlement' in the immigration sense, because the permits can be confiscated if the holder commits a crime and the holder can then be deported as an undesirable alien. Thus in the Dutch view, regardless of what permit is stamped in the CI, the document should be renewed and the holder's returnability to Hong Kong thus preserved.
5.
The Dutch have no problem, incidentally, over the procedures followed when a Document of Identity expires: they are prepared to issue an Alien's Passport in exchange for the standard letter from the Consulate-General.
6. I have discussed this with our Consul General in Amsterdam. It seems to us that:
(i)
we need to clarify the intention and the practical effect of the injunction in paragraph
1 of the inner back cover of the CI. In particular is 'take up residence' meant in a temporary or permanent sense?
(ii) one way or another the British, Hong Kong and
Dutch authorities need to get together to find a way to limit this grey area in which a number of CI holders now appear to live, whereby they have lost their returnability to Hong Kong yet could still be deported from the Netherlands.
CONFIDENTIAL
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