بانوان
SECRETARY
cc PS / Mr Mande
HK,
I was not aware.
tha ki emassi/h ukvi сталит
over spinses
Wi
be made,
10 Unm's Corne, BTC HongKong
Мо метал
нка
cc dur party, HKG
Mr Burns J 11|7
QUEEN ANNE'S GATE LONDON SBIH 9AT
31
abin
IL
iuli
Hir satisfy
9 July 1990
جم
Mr Marrin
12/
HIGD 340/$ нки
EIVER IN REGISTRY
17 JUL 1990
FICER
PA
А смсти окрашаш
---2
"
than writing
111/m
SISTRY HONG KONG: BRITISH CITIZEN'S SPOUSES
Action Taken
•
When you came to see Peter Lloyd and me to discuss the worries expressed by British citizens living in Hong Kong about the position of their spouses who do not have British citizenship I promised that we would give further thought to the points which you and the Concerned British Expatriatas Society zada.
As I explained when we zet, British citizens' spouses already have ble assurance that if the family were to wish to leave Hong Kong they Would have no difficulty in entering the Cited Kingdom. Under the Immigration Rules the spouse of a British citizen is entitled to accompany his of her to the United Kingdon for settlement provided that:
(1)
(13)
the primary purpose of the marriage was not to obtain admission to the United Kingdom;
the parties to the carriage have met and intand to live permanently together;
and
(1)
the parties can maintain and accommodate hamselves adequately without recourse to public funds.
In practice it is unlikely that the existing spouse of an expariate ritish citizen who has been working overseas and is returning to the Taited Kingdom would not meet these requirenents. Last year, cut of 259, only four applications for entry clearance as a spouse or fianca(e) were refuzed in Heng Keng; all four of those cases involved the very different situation where a person settled in the United Kingdom sought to bring in someone he or she was carrying from abroad.
I do, however, understand the expatriates' concern that their spouses should be able to obtain some evidence of their status and an assurance thap if they decided to come to the United Kingdom an application for the necessary entry clearance would be processed speedily. Accordingly, we are making arrangements whereby the spouse of a British citizen resident in Hong who act for us in Kong may appresch the Hong Kong Immigration Department entry clearance matters - with evidence of the marriage. The details will be noted in a register of non-British citizen spouses of British citizens and