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The Commission recommend that all other British Dependent Territory Citizens (although giving a lower priority to persons naturalized as such since the signing of the Joint Declaration) should be permitted to enter the United Kingdom for settlement in accordance with a quota system extending for at least 6 years beyond 30 June 1997. They accept that that would be inconsistent with the memoranda exchanged between the United Kingdom Government and the Peoples' Republic of China on the signing of the Joint Declaration. They assert that since the memoranda were not annexed to the Joint Declaration they do not as a matter of law bind the United Kingdom Government.
The problem of consistency with the memoranda has been resolved in the case of the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1990 by providing in the Act that a British Dependent Territory Citizen who becomes a British citizen under the
Act shall cease to be a British Dependent Territory That provision will be brought into force before 30 June 1997 and the memoranda will not apply to the successful applicants.
Citizen.
The
Commission notes that the number of applicants under the 1990 Act was not as large as might have been expected. They suggest three possible explanations a limited demand
for British citizenship
little hope of success
applicants may prejudice
Kong.
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a perception that applicants had
and a fear that unsuccessful their post 1997 position in Hong Only the first explanation carries any conviction; the running total of numbers of applicants was publicized throughout the application period and it must have been
apparent to potential applicants that generally the chances