15 JAN 93 15:26 84 LINO 051 255 1160
P.9/12
residence requirement for naturalisation.
If they are living
overseas they can only be granted British citizenship if their
husband or wife is in Crown service or service designated under
section 2(3) of the 1981 Act. The spouses of British citizens
not in Crown or designated service and the widows or widowers of
British citizens who may or may not have been in such service
before their deaths, have no avenue to British citizenship under
the 1981 Act as long as they remain in Hong Kong. New primary
legislation would be necessary to meet this demand. Even if this
were seen to be desirable considerable objection would be raised
given the very small number of people concerned and the fact that
they are eligible for settlement in the United Kingdom and can
then apply to be naturalised in the normal way.
Line to take
3. The legislative
councillors are familiar with the
immigration assurance already given by a previous Home Secretary.
They may also recall that the Government has introduced
arrangements which enable the spouses of ex-servicemen to be
registered with the Immigration Department in Hong Kong, so that
any subsequent application for entry clearance can be processed
very quickly indeed.
4. The wives and widows of Hong Kong ex-servicemen are eligible
to come to the United Kingdom for settlement at any time and then
to apply for naturalisation as British citizens in the normal
way. There is no power in nationality law to
to grant them
citizenship while they remain in Hong Kong.