18 February 1993
RF
HAD
CONFIDENTIAL
BILDET
Der Willia
INC
Foreign & Commonwealth
Office
624
London SW1A 2AH
HICD
348/2
Miss Bumpledre
(lettext sub.)
22 FEE 1993
M 19/2
14. Morris
send to Mu Kelly
HIST 1912.
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Is
Bornes. Ignes
1812
HONG KONG: BRITISH NATIONALITY SCHEME
Thank you for your letter of 21 December to Richard Gozney. Your letter suggested that when key Hong Kong employees of British companies fail to qualify under the British citizenship selection scheme, they transfer their skills to competitor countries' companies. You asked if we might consider amending the points scheme to reduce the occurence. You will have seen that the Home Secretary's minute of 12 February to OPD (K) members recommends no change to the provisions assigning points for British links. Foreign Secretary will be replying separately to the Home Secretary's minute; but this letter provides some background to the recommendation on British links.
The
FCO, DTI and Home Office officials, together with the Hong Kong Government and the British Trade Commission (BTC) in Hong Kong, have reviewed the operation of the scheme to date and considered whether more needs to be done for British firms. Our conclusions are set out below. However, I should perhaps first clarify that the premise in your letter is not quite correct. It is true that the Bonas Machine Company is not the only British firm whose employees have failed to qualify under the scheme. We have had several letters from British employers arguing that if their key people are not given British citizenship, there is a risk they will either emigrate, or join rival companies from countries better able to offer passports. So far Bonas is the only company we know of which has actually lost employees whose applications under the passport scheme have failed.
The British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1990 was intended to help stem the haemorrhage of talent which threatened both Hong Kong's competitiveness and the efficiency and authority of its public service. The points scheme was designed to select "the most valuable and talented people in Hong Kong", those people essential for the future prosperity of Hong Kong (and incidentally those who would be a major
The asset to Britain if they were to leave the territory). selection scheme for the first tranche focused on merit and
CONFIDENTIAL