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For the small number, mainly the "ethnic minorities", who have no right of abode anywhere else in the world, Mr Lai said that their position was again secured by virtue of Article 24(2)(6) of the Basic Law.
The area where uncertainty still lies is in respect of the about half a million "non-Chinese nationals" who have a right of abode somewhere else. They include the so-called "returning emigrants", as well as the "genuine expatriates" who are long- established residents of Hong Kong.
Mr Lai said that the reason why the position of this category of people was uncertain was because their qualification for right of abode, as defined in the Basic Law, involved a combination of nationality and residence criteria.
"The residential criterion is governed, under Article 24(2)(4) of the Basic Law, by two factors: whether you have ordinarily resided in Hong Kong continuously for seven years; and whether, in the words of the Basic Law, you have taken Hong Kong as your place of permanent residence," he said.
While how to fulfil the first qualification is now reasonably clear, Mr Lai noted that the second qualification had attracted a great deal of confusion and concern and that even now there was some uncertainty as to how in practice this qualification would be applied.
"How these criteria will be applied is under discussion with the Chinese side. Our aim is to ensure that those who qualify for a right of abode can get it in as simple and easily understandable a manner as possible. I hope we will be able to clarify this soon," he said.
Turning to the SAR passport, Mr Lai said that discussions were continuing with the Chinese side over the detailed implementation of the agreement reached earlier this year on the production and issue of the SAR passport.
Under the agreement, the SAR passport will be issued only to permanent Hong Kong residents who are Chinese nationals and the Immigration Department of Hong Kong will have sole responsibility to approve the issue of the passport.
"The SAR passport is of a highly secure design and will be produced under strict control conditions in Hong Kong. After the new SAR passport specimen was introduced to third countries earlier this year, and the strict control procedures explained to them, no country is known to reject the SAR passport as an internationally accepted travel document.