Memorandum by Lord Derwent
I.
II.
Right of Entry to the United Kingdom for Hong Kong Businessmen
Paragraph 4.19 of the House of Commons Second Report on Hong Kong of June 28th draws attention to the difficulty of defining "coherent categories of suitable people apart from public servants to whom a right of abode or an assurance of right of entry for settlement might be offered".
This is a real, not an imagined, difficulty and this note is an attempt to set out one way in which the problem might be partially tackled - if the "political will" referred to by the Committee exists.
At present there is a provision in the Immigration Law Handbook, p. 57, that people will be admitted to the U.K as self-employed persons if they have Entry Clearance. (This is the second category of people refered to in para 4.5 of the Report.) To obtain Entry Clearance they must satisfy the following conditions:
(a) That they are investing at least £150,000 of their own money
in the business.
(b) That the investment is commensurate with their interest in
the business and that they are able to meet any financial liability arising out of the business.
(c) That they will be occupied full-time in the running of the
business and there is a genuine need for their services and investment.
After four years such people qualify for Residence permits and thereafter for naturalisation provided they have spent only brief periods out of the U.K. during the four years.
III. In order to find a logical way of allowing flexibility for Hong
Kong businessmen so as to enable them to obtain a residence Permit in the U.K. while not leaving H.K. it is suggested that the above conditions are modified so that during the four year period they could reside in either the U.K. or H.K. only. i.e. time spent in Hong Kong counts towards the four years required residence in the United Kingdom. There would have to be a consequential amendment to (c). This would only appear to require secondary legislation and could be held to be the "flexibility" promised by the Prime Minister.
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IV.
Arguments in favour: