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have been admitted to this country specifically for settlement under the special voucher scheme because they were under pressure in their country of residence, had not acquired local citizenship and could not, for instance, work there. In most cases they could not have gone elsewhere. Their future lies here. They have established a tie with this country through their residence here on a permanent basis and this should be recognised by conferring British Citizenship on them.
22.
Mere presence alone on a specified day, however, would probably not be enough to qualify for citizenship. The length and nature of residence would have to be laid down, establishing that the link was a real one. British Citizenship might, for instance, be conferred only on those citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies from overseas who had been resident in the United Kingdom for a specified time and were free of any conditions on their stay at the end of that time. Any qualification of this kind would, however, have to be simple and easily proved, since otherwise the persons concerned might find it difficult, or his descendants might, to prove that he had become a British Citizen under the transitional arrangements. For those citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies who could not fully meet the requirements on the specified day it might be right to make some special arrangement by which they could later acquire British Citizenship.
23.
A further group might also be made Citizens, These are women citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies who would not qualify for British Citizenship in their own right, but whose husbands would become British Citizens. This would cover, for instance, a woman, who is a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies by virtue of her birth in Hong Kong, who is married to a man who is a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies by virtue of his birth in the United Kingdom. The numbers concerned would not be large.
Other Groups of persons eligible to hold British Passports who might become British Citizens.
24.
Two other groups of British passport holders might also qualify for British Citizenship if they have ties with the United Kingdom through their residence here. These are British Protected Persons and British Subjects without Citizenship. The residential ties would be defined for them in the same way as for the citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies from overseas (see paragraph 22 above).
25.
The British Protected Persons who would qualify for citizenship in this way would for the most part have come to this country from East Africa for permanent settlement, entering under the special voucher scheme. They were admitted in this way because they faced the same problems as citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies there and for the purposes of the new citizenship there would seem to be no reason to treat them differently when they are settled in the United Kingdom.
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