CONFIDENTIAL
8. 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 would be inappropriate, given the small numbers of people involved and the immigration assurances already given about their eligibility to settle here and to quality for registration or naturalisation in the normal way. The Governor has recently looked at the issue again and has recommended that the Home Secretary consider whether he might use what discretion he has under the British Nationality Act 1981 to grant citizenship to those bodies. Home Office officials are considering this.
9. The Governor is keen that Ministers confirm that the Hong Kong Government have supported the aspirations of Hong Kong people on all three of these issues.
CONFIDENTIAL
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