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become on that date a British Overseas Citizen. The so-called provision of "but for this paragraph" means "provisions for reducing cases of statelessness". That is to say, if one becomes stateless in the absence of the provision of Article 6 of the 1986 Nationality Order, then this provision confers "automatically British Overseas Citizenship" as from 1 July 1997 on anyone who has not applied for a BN (O) passport and loses BDTC status on that date because Hong Kong as a "British Dependent Territory" no longer exists and who does not hold any other nationality. Article 6(2) further provides, "Where a person born on or after 1 July 1997 would, if at the time of the birth his father or mother is a British overseas citizen, he shall be a British Overseas Citizen." That is to say, BOC status can be passed on to the next generation whereas BN (0) status cannot.
Item 25 of the Explanatory Note of the same Nationality Order states, "Article 6(1) provides that those Hong Kong BDTCs who have not acquired BN(0) status, for whatever reason, should automatically acquire British Overseas citizenship (BOC) on 1 July 1997 if they would otherwise be stateless."
"For whatever reason" means if a person fails to obtain a replacement BN (0) passport within the period specified under the compulsory arrangement of the Hong Kong Government whereby replacement BN (0) passports are to be issued in phases, he can still "automatically acquire British overseas Citizens status" on 1 July 1997, naturally on the condition that he will become "stateless" if he is not given the BN(0) status. As a result, people who are holding BDTC passports or status may perhaps take the course of making a statutory declaration at a District office to prove they have no other nationality except their BDTC status. After obtaining a statutory declaration, they will meet the two requirements of (1) not having acquired BN(0) status; and (2) not having any other nationality on 1 July 1997. They can automatically become British Overseas Citizens and the British Consulate will have no grounds for refusing to issue them with British Overseas Citizens passports.
BN(0)s DO NOT HAVE LAWFUL RIGHT OF ABODE IN THE UK
British Overseas Citizens and British Nationals (Overseas) are different in that firstly the former are entitled to apply for UK passports which accord the holders the same status as that of citizens of the UK proper while the latter do not have such entitlement and secondly the former's status can be extended to their children while the latter's cannot.