thereafter will, for two generations, be able to acquire British Overseas Citizenship if they would otherwise be
stateless. These provisions were made because there was uncertainty as to whether non-ethnic Chinese would be able to
obtain Chinese nationality after 1997. The Government has
also given an assurance (most recently in the House of Lords
on 15 July 1993) that any solely British national who comes
under pressure to leave Hong Kong could expect to have his case for admission to the United Kingdom considered by the Government of the day with special and considerable sympathy.
British Citizenship for wives and widows of ex-servicemen
33.
During the second reading of the British Nationality
(Hong Kong) Act 1990 the Home Secretary gave an assurance that the spouses of any British citizens who had died and who had
been resident in Hong Kong would be allowed to come to the United Kingdom to settle and to apply for British citizenship in the normal way. The assurance was extended to the wives
and widows of those servicemen who served in the defence of
Hong Kong during the Second World War, irrespective of the husband's nationality. This is a small group (a few dozen) and their call to be granted British citizenship without having to travel to the UK generates considerable sympathy for their cause in Hong Kong.
34. The Home Office reviewed policy on wives and widows of ex-servicemen when preparing briefing for Mr Wardle's meetings with LegCo members in January. The conclusion the Home Office came to was that there is no way of granting British citizenship to the ladies in question as long as they remain in Hong Kong. They stressed that in order to be eligible for registration or naturalisation as British citizens, the wives and widows would first need to settle in the United Kingdom. Home Office Ministers remain of the view that new legislation
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