21 SEP '90 16:11 2NDBY LUNAR HOUSE 01 760 3922
Immigration and
Nationality Department
Lunar House 40 Wellesley Road
Croydon CR9 2BY
Telephone 081-760 2832
(GTN 3822)
THOME OFFICE
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P.2 3
E
John Morris Esq
Hong Kong Department
Foreign & Commonwealth Office
Whitehall
LONDON SW1A 2AF
Your reference
Our reference
Date 21 September 1990
Dear John,
GIBRALTAR : HONG KONG IMMIGRANTS
1.
Liz Grimsey and I have now had the opportunity to discuss the papers on this subject which conclude with your minute of 20 September to Robin McLaren. As you will appreciate, we had not previously heard of all this.
2.
I note that Mr Garel-Jones is to visit Gibraltar on 25 September, and that within the FCO you are considering advising him to give continued encouragement to the proposal which has emerged. In some respects, analysed below, the proposal is ambiguous. But we strongly suspect that the interest in Hong Kong is based on the assumption that up to 2,000 Hong Kong BDTCs might acquire Gibraltar BDTC status (GBDTC) and might then, by the entitlement under section 5 of the British Nationality Act 1981, (the 1981 Act) acquire British citizenship. Your minute of
20 September certainly seems to contemplate the latter possibility.
3.
If so, the proposal presents a number of serious problems, and we think you will wish to advise Mr Garel-Jones that he should not encourage this proposal and indeed, for the purpose of discussions as soon as next week, some discouraging words might be wise - until the Home Secretary has had an opportunity to consider the matter.
4.
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The main political problem on which the Home Secretary is likely to focus is that, if the Governor's scheme were to be implemented in the way mentioned above, it would be seen as
undermining the 50,000 limit under the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1990 (the 1990 Act). Any leak of these Gibraltar ideas could prove very embarrassing for the forthcoming Order in Council under the 1990 Act.
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