- 2 -
(iii)
(iv)
(v)
Many of the ethnic Portugese residing in Hong Kong have been able to obtain Portugese nationality, because of the flexibility of that country's immigration laws. We have spoken to a leading member of the Portugese community in Hong Kong, who has informed us that most ethnic Portugese with BDTC passports will be eligible for citizenship of that country upon application. The maximum number that may have any difficulty in this regard would be around 500. This compares to a figure of 2255 provided by the Hong Kong Government.
Ethnic Indian BDTCs whose fathers are Indian nationals can exercise a right to Indian nationality anytime before the age of eighteen. We believe that this would apply to many of the younger ethnic Indian BDTCs.
A few weeks ago, we wrote to all the Indian organisations coming under the auspices of our Council, asking them to invite their BDTC members to register their names with us. We then followed this up with letters and faxes to 1200 firms listed in a directory of Indian companies conducting business in Hong Kong, inviting them to do the same. The replies which we have received to date have been much fewer than expected, leading us to believe that the actual number of ethnic Indian BDTCs may be no more than 3000.
Taking all of the above points into consideration, we now believe that there are fewer than 6000 ethnic minority BDTCs (including Indians) who have no other form of nationality available to them either now or in the future. In light of this, we would be grateful if you would consider making provisions for a maximum of 6000 of these people to be given full British citizenship when the nationality package is announced. May we respectfully suggest the following guidelines to help minimise the numbers:-
(1) That an appropriate cut-off date be implemented to prevent those foreign nationals presently living in Hong Kong from applying for BDTC status, in the hope of obtaining full British Citizenship at a later date.
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