L
Governors
British Dependent Territories
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HWT 34114
1521415
HKDAFY
26 July 1989
SALE OF PERMANENT RESIDENCY CERTIFICATES (HONG KONG PERSPECTIVE)
1. Governments of at least two Caribbean dependent territories have in recent weeks been asked to consider proposals involving the effective sale of Permanent Residency Certificates to Hong Kong people seeking a safe haven for flight before or after 1997. Such schemes to have some attraction for the dependent territories in
One scheme, for promising much-needed investment. instance, a proposal by a Canadian firm of accountants to set up a mortgage company in the Turks and Caicos Islands, suggested selling 1,000 Permanent Residency Certificates a year to Hong Kong residents at a cost of US$ 250,000 a time. That would bring in an incredible US$250 million a year. However, there are a number of reasons why we believe schemes on such a scale are unrealistic and why, in respect of our wider interests as they affect Hong Kong, they should be treated with caution.
2. After China's armed suppression of peaceful, unarmed demonstrators in Peking on 4 June and the wave of repression that has followed, confidence in Hong Kong has been severely shaken. This brought sharply into focus two themes which have bubbled beneath the surface in Hong Kong for many years but have become increasingly important as 1997 approaches: emigration and nationality. There has been a steady outflow of talent from Hong Kong over the past few years as people try to secure for themselves some guarantee, in the form of a second
Many return to Hong Kong passport, for their future. having acquired this form of "insurance", but still there. is a worrying drain of talent from the territory and the recent loss of confidence risks exaggerating this trend..
F
:
1.
3. At the same time Hong Kong people have launched a vigorous campaign for the "restoration" of their right of abode in the United Kingdom. A majority of the residents of Hong Kong hold, or are entitled to hold, British Dependent Territories Citizenship (BDTC).
A
As you will be aware, this does not confer upon them the right of abode in the United Kingdom. This is clear from the British Nationality Act 1981 and is a state of affairs that
CONFIDENTIAL
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