TNAG-0321-FCO40-357-Effect-of-1971-UK-Immigration-Bill-on-entry-of-Chinese-from--1971 — Page 39

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CONFIDENTIAL

(20)

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

London S.W.1

30 April 1971

T.Fitzgerald Esq Home Office Princeton House

271/277 High Holborn LONDON WC1

Acar Tarne,

IMMIGRATION BILL: HONG KONG

1.

In my letter GVM 6/2 of 15 January and your reply of 19 January, amongst other things we recorded our agree- ment that the new arrangements that will come into force as a result of the new Immigration legislation should provide for a quota of 400 work permits for the dependent territories with a maximum of 200 for any one territory.

2.

This proposal has brought a strong protest from the Governor of Hong Kong. At present Hong Kong is entitled to a maximum of 300 employment vouchers out of the 600 granted to dependent territories, so its, ceiling will now be cut by one-third. The Governor points out that there are always more than 300 applicants for employ- ment vouchers from Hong Kong in contrast to other depend- ent territories which never take up their full quotas, and he considers that there will be great resentment in Hong Kong if the quota is now further drastically reduced. He has asked that the Hong Kong ceiling should be main- tained at its present level of 300 vouchers/work permits per year. We have carefully considered the Governor's representation. We cannot accept it entirely because it is plainly right that when any overall cut is made in Commonwealth immigration, all territories should be seen to bear a share of the hardships involved; the Governor has not, in our opinion, made out a case for Hong Kong's exemption. This said, however, there is certainly force in the Governor's agreement that, unlike the other dependent territories, Hong Kong has always taken up its full quota of employment vouchers, would take more if they were on offer, and therefore suffers immediately from any reduction in her quota.

3.

There is the further point that the current exercise of the Department of Employment on the admission of aliens may result in a considerable decrease in the number of stateless Hong Kong Chinese who at present enter this country for employment as aliens. The Governor points out that it is anomalous, under present circum- stances, that it is easier for Hong Kong residents who

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CONFIDENTIAL