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the scheme has been carried out as prescribed. But the
Minister may wish to take note of the following points of
interest:
(a) Para 1 notes that all the provisions of the Act,
except Section 2 (2) which relates to the loss of British
Dependent Territories Citizenship, came into force on
7 November 1990. It is therefore still necessary to enact
an instrument to provide for the loss of BDTC status on
receipt of British citizenship under the scheme.
This was
not done at the same time as the other provisions, because
HKG wanted first to resolve the outstanding questions of Chinese nationality and right of abode stemming from JD 158/159, a subject of regular discussion in the JLG.
await Hong Kong's advice on when they think it will be
possible to enact Section 2 (2), (but the problems of
JD 158/159 are thorny, and we should not expect an early
resolution).
We
(b) Para 15 gives one of the reasons for the delay in processing applications: a large number of applicants did
not complete their application forms fully or properly,
which meant the Immigration Department (HKID) had to write
or interview them to obtain the necessary information.
(c) Para 18 adds a further gloss to the processing problem: the verification interview is the most time-consuming step. HKID anticipate that by the end of
1992, about 75% of the potentially successful applicants
will have been interviewed. The rest will be processed in
the first half of 1993.
(d) Para 19 indicates that the average family size was
2.86, ie considerably below the original Home Office estimate. If this average remains constant for all 50,000 principal beneficiaries, the total, including families,
would be 143,000; not 225,000 as Ministers told Paliament
was the estimated ceiling during the passage of the Act.
Hong Kong opinion was always sceptical about this estimated
JM3AAU/2
SLM
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