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Fift Standing Committee on Statutory Instruments, &c.
13 JULY 1993
Hong Kong (Brit. Nat.) Order 1993 Brit. Nat. (Hong Kong) Order 1993
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the order sets new quotas for individual groups that will take into account not only their total numbers and emigration rate, as before, but also their application rate in the first tranche. Half of the quota will be distributed by reference to emigration rates and half by reference to previous response, according to our experience in the first tranche.
The practical effect will be that those occupations that showed strong demand for places in the first tranche will have a correspondingly larger share of the quota for the second phase. The groups concerned include accountants and auditors, medical doctors and legal professionals in the general occupational class, and the army and immigration department in the disci- plined services class. Conversely, those groups which have not been able to fill their quotas, such as man- agers, administrators and the police, will have pro- portionally fewer places.
Other changes to the scheme are more limited. Experience in the first tranche suggests that the current practice of limiting the number of points to be allocated for exceptional merit or outstanding achievement awards-whether occupation-related or for voluntary work or acts of bravery-has not been fair to applicants with records of long voluntary service or outstanding achievements. The order, therefore, raises those limits by 20-30 points so that such achievements will attract up to 50 points. The order also attaches somewhat more importance to public or community service. Extremely few applicants have managed to score any meaningful number of points under this heading and the order adjusts that slightly. Provision is made for service as a non-official justice of the peace to count as public or community service.
The order makes a number of other adjustments to the schedule, which are all technical and which I need mention only briefly. It removes the sub-quota for "managers and administrators” in the civil service. Experience has shown that the distinction between them and their counterparts-managers in the private sector has turned out to be unnecessary. The order puts them on exactly the same footing. Experience has also shown that the earnings scale used under the scheme does not differentiate applicants sufficiently and has resulted in too much bunching around particu- lar levels. The order corrects that. It also provides for recent changes in accountancy professional qualifications.
One change that we propose to make that does not require amendment of the original order is the inclusion of librarians in the scheme. This group has a high emigration rate, their service is one of high value and their services are in great demand. Since they have been emigrating and cannot easily be replaced it is right that they should now be included.
I turn now to the second order, which sets out a scheme for registering British dependent territory citi- zens as British nationals overseas-that is, BN(O)s as opposed to BDTCs. This is less complicated than the first order, but has aroused a certain amount of con-
cern in Hong Kong, which I hope the recent decision on passports made by my right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary has served to allay. I shall say a little more on that later.
The purpose of the second order is to ensure the orderly and timely acquisition of BDTC and BN(O) status by those who wish to acquire it before Hong Kong reverts to China in 1997. BDTC status expires at that point.
The problem is that the Hong Kong (British Nationality) Order 1986 provides for Hong Kong BDTC status to end on 1 July 1997. It also provides for Hong Kong BDTCs to acquire BN(O) status and pass- ports before that date. Under the terms of the memor- andum attached to the joint declaration and article 4(2) of the Hong Kong (British Nationality) Order 1986, we cannot process applications for BN(O) status after 30 June 1997. So far only 0.5 million of the estimated 3.3 million BDTCs who are--or will be-eligible for BN(O) status have obtained BN(O) passports. There are some 1.7 million BDTC passports in circulation, of which more than half are due to expire in 1996–97. Unless we act not, many of those eligible will apply very close to 1997, and the Hong Kong immigration department will not have the capacity to process their applications before the 30 June deadline. There would clearly be a serious problem if significant numbers of applications remained unprocessed after the deadline had passed. We therefore wish to institute a phased programme of BN(O) registrations to encourage an orderly flow and avoid an overwhelming number of last minute applications.
Another important consideration is that those who wish to become BN(O)s have first to acquire BDTC status. Naturalisation as a BDTC normally takes about 18 months in Hong Kong. There is, at present, no time limit on applications. In theory, eligible people may apply at any time in the run up to 30 June 1997-the handover point. However, it is clear that time is needed to process first the BDTC application and then, the BN(O) application.
We believe that legally binding cut-off dates for the acquisition of both BDTC and BN(O) status are the only way to ensure that people who are eligible for BN(O) status can acquire it, if they so wish. Without legal deadlines, we can see not incentive for people to apply in good time.
The scheme for achieving that aim is set out in the draft order. It is similar in concept to an exercise that Hong Kong undertook in relation to identity cards, with cut-off dates being set by age group. The order provides for cut-off dates for different age groups, at three to five month intervals. They start this October for 22 to 26-year-olds and finish in September 1997 for children born up to 30 June that year. Those children have to be registered by the end of the year. The Governor would have discretion to accept late appli- cations in cases in which applicants became BDTCs after their BN(O) cut-off date or where applicants had other good reasons for not applying by their cut-off