RESTRICTED
ZCZC
RESTRICTED
отнакс
PRIORITY
FM FCO
TO PRIORITY COPENHAGEN
TELNO
OF 121435Z FEBRUARY 90
AND TO PRIORITY PARIS, BONN, ATHENS, ROME, MADRID
INFO PRIORITY BRUSSELS, DUBLIN, LUXEMBOURG, THE HAGUE, LISBON,
INFO PRIORITY UKREP BRUSSELS, HAMILTON
BERMUDA: VISA ABOLITION AGREEMENTS WITH EC MEMBER STATES
1. When the 1981 British Nationality Act came into force in January 1983, it replaced the status of quote Citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies unquote with that of quote British Dependent Territory Citizen unquote. The Bermuda government assumed that a BDTC passport would be accepted by third countries on the same basis as the CUKC passport; and that holders of Bermuda passports would continue to have visa-free access to those countries with which the UK had reciprocal visa
agreements. The UK told all its VAA partners that it was its intention that VAAS sould be interpreted in that way for all DTs although the legal basis for that assumption has always been open
to challenge.
2. In practice however, EC governments reacted by introducing visa requirements for holders of BDTC passports. The introduction of such provisions caused particular inconvenience for Bermuda, the wealthiest and most sophisticated of the Caribbean DTs, which has been seeking to strengthen its
WIAD
P JANUARY
political
270-2631