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MAR.03 '88 11:04 GMT HO 2 LUNAR HOUSE
P.05
people coming for training rather
rather than limiting our
our offer to those with family ties. A further suggestion, put to
Lord Glenarthur on his recent visit, was that we should accept some of the 130 or so refugees who have previously refused offers of resettlement in the UK and who, as a consequence, are likely to be ineligible for resettlement elsewhere.
5.
Both of these proposals would involve extending the presant criteria, and as such would take us bayond the policy previously agreed. The "UK refusals" are people who met earlier criteria but who, for various reasons, decided that they did not after all
wish to settle in the UK. If any of them had met tha present family reunion criteria they would have been included in the
original 459. As for the proposal that we should convert the 468 into a general quota, this would go completely against the viaw which we have consistently taken that the axicbence si a quota is likely to not as a "pull factor" and encouraga puzely economic migrants (of which there are already a large number from Vietnam) to try their luck. Cha 468 was not a quota 42 such, but simply the number of people who
our family raunion
criteria.
Mat
:
7. We know that there are a number of refugees in camps in Hong Keng who meet the existing critaria but who were overlooked when the original list was compiled. We would suggest, therefore, that it would be consistent with the petlay previously agraad to offer places. now to such people in order to fill up the If, as la possible, thia atill leaver 4% short af 453 we might move forward the cut-off date (October 1986) until such time as we have sufficiant people meeting the family reunion criteria to make up the numberR
abortfali.
8. If Ministers agree wit Vila proposal there would not avem to be any need to enter into a full round of inter-departmental correspondence: what we
are proposing would be in line with the previously agreed policy and would involve no change in the total commitment. We would suggest, therefore, that it would suffice for the Home Secretary to write to the Foreign Secretary talling
3: