12-ACT-1993 17:29
FCO M.V.D.
mmigration and Nationality Department
Lunar House 40 Wellesley Road
Croydon CR9 2BY
Telephone 081-760 2236
(GTN 3822)
◆ Mulcahy Esq
Migration and Visa Department
Foreign and Commonwealth Office CL420
Clive House
LONDON
SWIA 2AH
Dear Colin
HONG KONG BNOS VISITING AUSTRIA
071 270 4046
P.02
|HOME OFFICE
ind
Your reference
GVV345/393/1
Our reference
Date
(7 September 1993
Thank you for your letter of 26 August enclosing a copy of a minute from Hong Kong Department about negotiations with the Austrians for the abolition of visas for Hong Kong BNOs.
Whilst we can see why Hong Kong Department is attracted to the idea of offering to extend to Austria the arrangement which at present exists for Benelux (and the Scandinavian countries) whereby the United Kingdom "takes back" any "British" passport holder expelled from these countries, I am afraid that we think it would be unwise to do so. The arrangement with the Benelux countries is of many years standing and now, almost an anachronism. The arrangement came about by virtue of the particular wording in the visa abolition agreements made with these countries in the early 1960s. Under these agreements the United Kingdom apparently has an obligation not to return to those countries certain classes of persons deported or expelled to the United Kingdom.
The possibility of extending the arrangement to Germany was proposed and rejected as recently as 1988 and culminated, I believe, in Hong Kong Department writing to the Germans to dispel the idea. The view taken then, was that:
#
it is neither appropriate nor necessary to extend these arrangements, which reflect a particular and specific set of circumstances existing nearly 30 years ago, to other countries. Hong Kong BDTCs and BNOs have the legal right of abode in Hong Kong and their returnability to Hong Kong is guaranteed both before 1997 and, by the Chinese government, thereafter. There are therefore no grounds for routing Hong Kong British passport holders expelled from Germany back to Hong Kong via the United Kingdom. Their return should be arranged direct to Hong Kong."
We think this still reflects the right approach. The arrangement with the Benelux countries has to a large extent been overtaken by events and indeed, at present little use is made of the agreement. Whether this is through ignorance or absence of need is a matter for conjecture but it is a situation
sep-04. tn