E.R.
Declaration in guaranteeing the right of freedom of movement to people with valid travel documents.
The concession for widows and widowers
The only fear which is justified is that a spouse might be stranded in Hong Kong if the British citizen died because the entitlement under the Immigration Rules would then lapse. To meet this the Home Secretary gave an assurance during Second Reading of the Hong Kong Bill that the widow or widower of a British citizen who was resident in Hong Kong at the time of his or her death would be allowed to settle in the United Kingdom at any time, either before or after 1997. To benefit from this the widow or widower must still be resident in Hong Kong, not have remarried, and not have a citizenship from somewhere other than Hong Kong or China.
The nationality position
The requirements for a spouse to register as a British citizen are set out in Schedule 1 to the 1981 Act. The applicant must have been present in the United Kingdom on the date 3 years before his application is made and must be free of immigration conditions. These requirements cannot be waived.
The applicant is not required to have been resident during the whole of the 3 year period. The 1981 Act permits absences of 270 days over the 3 year period, the final year of which may include absences of not more than 90 days. There is discretion to waive absences in excess of these but it would not be possible to waive the entire 3 year period or anything like it. Where the applicant does not meet the residence requirement fully we would look at other factors before exercising discretion in order to be sure that the applicant had clearly thrown in his or her lot with the United Kingdom, for example by establishing home, family and estate here and by being domiciled in the United Kingdom for tax purposes. such cases we would also look for a period of residence in the United Kingdom before the 3 year period or reasons of a compelling business or compassionate nature which would justify naturalising
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