CONFIDENTIAL
Passports
4. The general mood in Hong Kong is now much calmer than it was a year ago. This is partly thanks to the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act which provides for 50,000 key people in Hong Kong and their dependents to be given full British citizenship without having to leave the territory. Emigration is still a matter of serious concern. About 62,000 people are expected to emigrate from Hong Kong this year, many of them key professionals. But we hope that our nationality package, coupled with the measures being taken by other countries (eg. the United States, France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy and Denmark) will help to anchor key people in Hong Kong.
5.
Applications for the first tranche of passports under the Act (87% of the total number available) have been invited from the public between 1 December 1990 and 28 February 1991. It is hoped that the first batch of passports will be issued in the late Spring/early Summer and that all the passports available under the first tranche will have been issued within 2 years. The second tranche
(13%) will be issued closer to 1997.
6.
50
Applications will be assessed under a points system. out of a total of 800 points will be allocated for British links, of which 35 will be allocated for service with a British undertaking or Crown Service under the Hong Kong
Government. The British business community has expressed concern that too few points have been awarded for British links. An Advisory Committee, under the chairmanship of Mr Heap (and including representatives of the British Chamber of Commerce, Swires, Jardines, Cable and Wireless and several other companies) has been set up in Hong Kong to draw up a list of British undertakings. The criteria for defining British undertakings have deliberately been drawn
TOYAIJ/4
CONFIDENTIAL
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