British Citizenship for wives and widows of ex-servicemen 5. During their meeting with the Home Secretary on 9 June the LegCo delegation also raised the question of British citizenship for the wives and widows of ex-servicemen. (Approximately 60 elderly ladies). The Home Secretary said that there was no provision in nationality law to grant British citizenship to a person who was not resident in the United Kingdom. He reminded the delegation that these ladies may come to the United Kingdom at any time to settle and to apply for British Citizenship in the normal way. Mr Goodlad wrote on 21 July to the Home Secretary to press him to be flexible on the residential requirements of the 1981 Nationality Act for this small group of ladies. Mr Wardle replied on 19 August that he would seek to exercise discretion as generously as possible but that he had no power to grant these ladies British Citizenship without their fulfilling the residential requirements (3 or if widowed 5 years in the UK).
Mr Jack Edwards, a former prisoner of war now living in Hong Kong, lobbied the Prime Minister during the latter's press conference in Tokyo on 20 September.
6.
British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1990
7. The Order in Council for the second tranche of the Selection Scheme was approved in July and comes into force on 3 January 1994. The Order provides for the allocation of the remaining 11,500 places in the scheme. The Order aims to facilitate this by transferring places from categories which have proved undersubscribed to groups where they will be used. Any transfers will take place in a one-off exercise on a date to be specified by the Governor.
British Nationals (Overseas) BN (0)
8.
The Hong Kong (British Nationality) (Amendment) Order 1993 which was approved by Parliament took effect on 21 July. The Order prescribes cut-off dates, by age group, for the acquisition of BN (0) status by British Dependent Territory Citizens (BDTCs) with a Hong Kong connection. The Order was introduced to enable the Hong Kong Immigration Department to process all applications before their power to do so ceases on 1 July 1997. At present just over 760,000 people have BN (0) passports, out of an estimated 3.6 million eligible for BN (0) status.
Au Wing Chung and Wong Cheun Ming
9. Au Wing Chung and Wong Cheun Ming, two Hong Kong citizens, have been held in prison in Manila since 7 September 1991 when they were arrested at the airport for possession of drugs. They were subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment on 29 November 1991. They filed an application for judicial review but while this was in progress, the courthouse caught fire on
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