DRAFT
J. Moris
cc.
CONFIDENTIAL
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
APS/Mur Caret-Jones
hr Chamberlain (371
Legal Advisers
Mr Pearey, SED
| Viol@ption of DI Careful for your views/agreement
Har I should send this,
RA Harrington Esq
Head of Nationality Division:
Home Office
Lunar House
Wellesley Road
Croydon
CR9 2BY
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY
11 OCT 1990
qur-reference
DESK OFFICER
INDEX
PA
Out reference
Dat
POPAFZ
۹۱۰مل
9 October 1990
GIBRALTAR: HONG KONG IMMIGRANTS
1.
Not on file
Thank you for your letter of 21 September! We took account of your views in the briefing for Mr Garel-Jones' visit. The Minister told Mr Bossano that we could not accept a scheme that might breach the commitment we had given the House on numbers. Mr Bossano said frankly that he could not see a way forward and asked for our advice on how he could provide an assurance which would be attractive to Hong Kong and meet his objectives whilst satisfying ours. I trust, therefore, that we can be confident that there will be no early, and potentially embarrassing, announcements of a scheme from Gibraltar.
2. Bossano gave the impression that he had not clearly thought through the precise mechanism by which Gibraltar could give assurances to Hong Kong people, (although we now know from separate direct contacts with officials of the Gibraltar Government that they have taken on board that they do not have the power to give an assurance leading to automatic citizenship without the approval of the Governor). Mr Bossano's request for advice may, of course, simply be a negotiating tactic (he is a shrewd operator), but prima facie he appears to be asking us tell him what to do. This gives us the opportunity to advise him on the sort of scheme which would fulfil the requirements of our lobbying on international support and at the same time not run any risks of breaching the 50,000 limit. I would welcome your advice on what sort of scheme we might wish to advocate that would be possible within Gibraltar's Immigration Regulations.
3. For ease of reference I enclose copies of Gibraltar Immigration Regulations (which you may already be familiar with). The key element in making any assurance attractive to Hong Kong and consistent with our objectives is that it should not require the recipient to leave Hong Kong in order to qualify. At first sight I do not see any obvious method of doing this in the Immigration Control Ordinance.
CONFIDENTIAL