TKUN HONG KONG DILL UNIT
95
British Nationality (Hong Kong) Bill
06.06.1990 11:25
NO. 4
Standing Committee A
96
10 MAY 1990
include the primary purpose test. That is true of some- one who marries a British citizen in any part of the world, but for expatriate British citizens living in Hong Kong, there would be few cases where those require- ments were not a formality as they could so obviously be fulfilled.
Mr. Darling: The Minister may come to regret what he has just said. One of the most heart-rending and irritating things about the immigration rules is how discriminatory they can be. I am astonished that he should tell us that the primary purpose rule will not be an obstacle for Hong Kong when it will be a problem elsewhere. If the primary purpose rule is to be used, it should be applied to everyone, not just anyone. I ask the Minister to think most carefully, because if that Home Office policy is applied against only one section of incoming people, we shall have to return to the issue when debating the immigration rules. It is quite wrong that the primary purpose rule should not matter for some but matter a lot for others.
Mr. Lloyd: The hon. Gentleman over-excites him- self. I said that it will prove to be a formality with most of the Members because most of them will be able to satisfy the rule clearly and readily. Indeed, most foreign husbands and wives who have married British citizens do satisfy that rule and are admitted. We are maintaining the rules under the 1981 Act so as to do what the hon. Gentleman requires-treat everyone equally. I can see that an argument can be made for having yet another special case for Hong Kong.
Implicit in what the hon. Gentleman said is that primary purpose will not apply to the registration of wives and children of the 50,000 of those selected for British passports, but it will. The Home Secretary will not be willing to register if the primary purpose of the marriage appears to have been to gain British citizen. ship or the right of abode in this country. We are endeavouring to maintain as closely as we can the same rules for everyone. I remain unrepentant of my remark that wives or husbands of expatriates in Hong Kong would be subject to the primary purpose rule, as I have no doubt that in the majority of cases they will fulfil those rules easily. For them. it would have the appearance of a formality.
The other concern was about the position of spouses in Hong Kong should the British citizen die before the family has settled in the United Kingdom. We accept that in such unique circumstances, it is natural that the expatriate community should be particularly anxious about widows-as they will be in the majority of cases after 1997. Because of that, my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary gave a new assurance on Second Reading. He said that the widowed spouse of a British citizen who was resident in the territory at the time of the death will be allowed to settle here as a concession outside the immigration rules. That assur- ance will certainly be honoured by this Government. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will be able to confirm that it will be sustained should his party come to office. That will give the sort of confidence that the expatriate community in Hong Kong rightly expects.
12.5 pm
Mr. Darling: Is the Minister saying that an individual
whose spouse was a British citizen and, who lived in Hong Kong at the time of the spouse's death would be granted British citizenship automatically? If so, will he remind us how the Home Secretary proposes to do it? It is not covered by the Bill; presumably it must be in the 1981 Act. I understand that he would have to grant citizenship to the spouses if they did not have it.
Mr. Lloyd: My right hon. and learned Friend did not make an assurance of British citizenship—he made an assurance of right of admission to this country for the non-British widows of British citizens resident in Hong Kong. They would have the right to come here and, having come here, they would have the right of abode, which could lead to citizenship in the normal way. under the 1981 Act. It is a concession outside the rules under the 1981 Act and has nothing to do with the Bill, which is about the selection of the 50,000 key people in Hong Kong who do not have British citizenship.
The amendment would go considerably further. The hon. Gentleman suggests that the Secretary of State should be able to grant citizenship to widowed spouses who died before 30 June 1997. As I have said, the privision would be neither necessary nor justified. because it would be a departure from the normal nationality principles that govern those matters for everyone else. It is our intention to continue to act by the 1981 Act as far as we possibly can. It is true that under the British Nationality Act 1948, the wife of a British citizen had the right to come here regardless of whether she had ever been to the United Kingdom, but it would have been untenable to keep that position, which treated husbands and wives differently.
I believe that our assurances are sufficient to reassure the expartriate community in Hong Kong. Because of the vagaries of politics, in the unlikely event-Opposition Members may hope that it is likely of the Labour party coming to office, the only thing needed to complete that assurance is that the hon. Gentleman should, at an early stage and certainly before Report, commit the Opposition unequivocally to maintaining that assurance.
Amendment No. 40 has a much narrower focus. It is concerned with the spouse of a person who acquires British citizenship under the proposed selection scheme and who then dies before the spouse has been registered as a British citizen. Again, I sympathise with the hon. Gentleman's argument.
Mr. Darling: I wish to be sure that the Minister understands my argument. Will the spouse and family of the key person who dies still be covered by the provisions or will their rights fall on the death of the registered person?
Mr. Lloyd: The simple answer is that the spouse and family will still retain the rights that they would have had if they had been registered. Given that his may be of interest to people in Hong Kong. I shall clarify the position. If a primary passport holder dies before his wife is registered, the wife would not be registered as a British citizen. She would not be the wife of a British citizen-the British citizen having died. However, she would be the widow of a British citizen, so she would have exactly the same rights as a wife of an expatriate
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