RESTRICTED
CALL ON MR GOODLAD BY A DELEGATION REPRESENTING LEGCO HOUSE HOUSE COMMITTEE, LED BY MISS EMILY LAU; 0830 WEDNESDAY 9 JUNE 1993
BACKGROUND
THE ETHNIC MINORITY COMMUNITY
1. LegCo members have argued for some time for British Citizenship for Hong Kong residents who are not of Chinese race and who have no other nationality except another form of British nationality. There are about 7,000 people in this group: mostly of Indian descent. There were debates in LegCo on this subject last November and in March.
2. Parliament specifically considered the position of this community during the passage of the British Nationality Hong Kong Act, 1990 (BNHKA). It was decided after full consideration that there was no case for special treatment. The right of abode of this community in Hong Kong is secure and protected under both the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law. Those British Dependent Territory Citizens (BDTCs) who wish to retain British nationality after 30 June 1997 can register before then as British Nationals (Overseas) (BNOs). Although this status cannot be passed on to subsequent generations, the children of this community will not be stateless (they can qualify for British Overseas Citizen status - BOC under the terms set out in Article 6 of the Hong Kong (British Nationality) Order 1986). Any BDTCs who fail for whatever reason to register as BN (0)s and would otherwise become stateless after the change in sovereignty will automatically become BOCS.
3. Members of this community (who have only British nationality and no other nationality) would continue to enjoy British consular protection in the future, including in the future SAR.
4. Members of the ethnic community are free to compete on the same basis as any other BDTC in the British Nationality Scheme established by the BNHKA to give British citizenship to up to 50,000 key people in the private and public sectors in Hong Kong (and to their spouses and dependents). Records are not compiled on the ethnic background of applicants, so it is not possible to give an assessment of how many have benefited under the scheme, but a rough check by the Hong Kong Government (on the basis of surnames) indicates that the ethnic community are taking advantage of this avenue to British citizenship. (The success rate of applicants who appeared to belong to the ethnic minorities was almost identical with the overall success rate of 61%).
bgrnd.gdladlegco.NAT
JEB
RESTRICTED
Page 15Page 16