CONFIDENTIAL
own costs, an estimate of which is currently under preparation,
as well as those of the UK Government under (b).
(b) Registration
9. This will require the
establishment of a team of UK
officials in Hong Kong to process recommendations by the
Governor. Estimates of the manpower and expenditure implications
are set out in paragraphs 14-29 below.
(c)
Passports
10. At present Hong Kong Immigration Department issue non- British citizen passports (eg BDTC and BN(0) passports) acting
as agents for our Passport Department. They retain the income
from passport fees to recover the cost of providing this service.
11. HKID have not hitherto had authority to issue British citizen passports. Instead passport applications by British citizens are sent to the UK by diplomatic bag and the passports returned in the same way.
12. If those who register under the Bill apply for British
citizen passports (and it seems likely that many will do SO immediately, even if they have no intention of emigrating the
bag scheme would
would not be able to cope with the additional
workload. Long delays could undermine confidence. It
therefore proposed to introduce a British citizen passport issuing facility in Hong Kong. This will be staffed by HKID, again acting on agency basis and recovering its costs by
retention of passport fees.
is
13. There will therefore be no implications for UK public
expenditure or manpower, apart from a small saving in the
workload of the UK Passport Department, of the order of about
2,500 passport applications a year (because applications from existing British citizens, currently handled by the bag scheme, will in future be processed by HKID).
CONFIDENTIAL