future special arrangements made for HMOCS members who are affected by the change of sovereignty will not be
affected by whether or not they have transferred to
the new pension scheme.
I can also confirm that officers who transferred to
pensionable terms and/or joined HMOCS after the Joint
Declaration was initiated on 26 September 1984 will be
treated in the same way as those who transferred to
such terms and joined HMOCS before that date as
regards any special arrangements.
(2) Status of Non-British Wives of HMOCS Members
It may be helpful if I set out the position in
detail.
Under the Immigration Rules, the spouse of a British
citizen is entitled to accompany him or her to the UK for settlement at any time before or after 1997 provided that
certain requirements are met. These are as follows:
i) that the primary purpose of the marriage was not
to obtain admission to the United Kingdom;
ii) that the parties to the marriage have met and intend to live permanently together; and
iii) that the parties can maintain and accommodate themselves and their dependants adequately without
recourse to public funds.
In practice very few spouses seeking admission from Hong Kong find these tests difficult to meet. In 1989, 320 spouses and fiance (e)s in Hong Kong were granted