qualified professional people to leave Hong Kong there is certainly no bar to
those who wish to come to this country seeking a work permit and, if
successful, achieving settled status after 4 years here.
In 1988, the
Department of Employment permitted 147 BDTCs from Hong Kong to come here for
long-term employment and 9 to come for short-term employment.
The figures
for Chinese nationals from Hong Kong were 33 and 2 respectively.
Settlement
12.
A person who has been admitted to the UK as a businessman,
person of
independent means or work permit holder may apply for the removal of any
time-limit on his stay in the UK indefinite leave to remain or settlement
- after he has been here for 4 years. Wives and children may also apply.
The effect of this is that,
thereafter,
he and his family would be free to
provided
leave and enter the UK as often as and for as long as they wished,
they were not away for longer than 2 years at a time. In recent years the
figures for Hong Kong BDTCs achieving settlement were in 1986, 860; in 1987,
920; and in 1988, 1,150.
Circumstances in which the Home Secretary acts outside the Rules as to
settlement
13.
The Immigration Rules are a statement which the Home Secretary makes
under the Immigration Act 1971 as to the practice to be followed in the
administration of that Act. But in exercising the power which he has under
the Act to grant leave to remain in the United Kingdom, the Home Secretary
has discretion to grant further, or indefinite, leave to people who do not
meet all the requirements of the Rules. An example of a case which may be
considered suitable for the exercise of discretion in this way may be that of
a person admitted to the United Kingdom as a businessman under paragraphs 35
to 37 of the Rules (HC 169) but who has retained substantial business
interests in other countries and who may therefore have difficulty in meeting
the requirement in paragraph 133 of HC 169 to remain here for a period of
4 years in order to qualify for indefinite leave to remain. In such a case
the Home Secretary may exercise his discretion, for example with regard to
how much of the 4-year period the businessman has to spend in this country.
In deciding whether to exercise discretion,
the Home Secretary would take
1
4
1