FCS/90/004
нко обяда
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY
12 JUN 1990
HOME SECRETARY
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12 VREGISTRY
PA
Action Taken
HKD
cc Ps
Ps | Mr Maude
Mr
McLaren
Mr Burns, News.
AW 12/1
Spouses of British Expatriates in Hong Kong and Widows of
1.
Hong Kong Ex-Servicemen
We need a line for me to take in Hong Kong should I be asked about the Government's position on admission to the UK for the non-British spouses of British expatriates in Hong Kong; and on widows of Hong Kong ex-servicemen.
2. You will be familiar with the background. British
expatriates in Hong Kong with Chinese or foreign spouses
have been lobbying hard about their concern that, should they die, their widows would not have the right to come
to settle in the UK. You have decided that, in order to
meet this concern, they will be given an assurance that
their widows would be admitted to the UK with their
dependant children at any time on the same terms as spouses of people settled here. I understand that you are now planning to announce this concession when the
Hong Kong Bill receives a second reading.
3. The widows of ex-servicemen are a small group of
barely 20 individuals. In April 1986, as Home Secretary,
I announced that the Government would apply Section 4(5)
of the BNA to 270 ex-servicemen, thereby enabling them to
register as British citizens. But the concession did not
apply to their wives and widows. OMELCO have been
pressing us to include wives and widows.
The concession
/on the