My faul
Fi.
cc Ms. Dent
Me. Morris Miss Dews
Mr. Harrington Mrs Grimsey
Mer Maude will haup Mr. Casey
have
Mr. Miller
read acc. of this Mr. Seymour
PARLIAMENTARY UNDER(a
SECRETARY OF STATE
нко
a member of the cttee).
34018 Back to me.
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY
12 JUN 1990
DESK OFFICER
REGISTRY
con Taken
INDEX
V24/5
Mr. Morris
Hong Kong Dept
Ar Hall
to note
you Jeals
HOME OFFICE
QUEEN ANNE'S GATE
LONDON SWIH 9AT
18 May 1990
This is the sort of nocful
reference which shows be foled
Where it can be quickly retrieved
At the end of one of our recent committee sessions you raised a
point about the wives of British citizens resident in Hong Kong.WI
undertook to write to you about this. As other Members of the Committee may find the information useful, I am also sending a copy of this letter to them.
Under the Immigration Rules, the spouse of a British citizen is entitled to accompany him or her to the UK for settlement at any time before or after 1997 provided that certain requirements are met. These are as follows:
i)
that the primary purpose of the marriage was not to obtain admission to the United Kingdom;
187
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ii)
that the parties to the marriage have met and intend to live permanently together; and
iii)
that the parties can maintain and accomodate themselves adequately without recourse to public funds.
In practice very few spouses seeking admission from Hong Kong find these tests difficult to meet. In 1989, 320 spouses and fiance(e)s in Hong Kong were granted entry clearances to settle in the UK on the basis of marriage to British citizens resident in Hong Kong, and 6 applications were refused.
During the Second Reading of the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Bill, the Home Secretary gave a further assurance 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 as if coming here as the spouse of a British citizen. To benefit from this assurance the widow or widower must still be resident in Hong Kong, not have remarried, and not have citizenship of a third country (i.e. other than Chinese nationals or British passport holders).
Bowen Wells Esq MP
/The basis of this
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