born here, adopted here, or acquired citizenship here by some voluntary act such as applying for naturalisation or registration.*
20. Then there are those citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies who, though not born, naturalised, etc., here themselves, hold their citizenship because of the birth or naturalisation of a parent or grandparent here, or who for some- what similar reasons have the right of entry. Where family ties are as close as this, these people too might become British Citizens.
21. There are also those who acquired citizenship of the United Kingdom and Colonies overseas (for example, because they were born in a dependency or a former dependency), have remained citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies, and have made their homes here. The largest element in this group is probably from East Africa. Many of these people 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 person 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 would not be large.
(b) 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 Citizen- ship. 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).
* Excluding those who, though they are registered in the United Kingdom, are not, under our present law, exempted from immigration control.
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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 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.
26. The origins of the status of British Subject without Citizenship are described above in paragraphs 4 and 7. The numbers who would be eligible for citizenship through their residence in the United Kingdom must be very small since British Subjects without Citizenship who have made their home in the United Kingdom have been eligible for registration as citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies since 1949 (for most of the time as of right).
The impact of these changes on the right to live in the United Kingdom (a) Those who would acquire the right of entry for the first time
27. British Citizenship would carry with it the right of entry to this country. So everyone who became a British Citizen under the transitional arrangements would have such a right of entry. But most of these people are already exempt from immigration control, and conferring British Citizenship on them would not affect immigration to this country.
28. There are, however, three groups who are not free from immigration control at present; they would therefore acquire the right of entry for the first time. There are those citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies from overseas who have been resident here for less than five years, and their wives. But they have in most cases already been accepted for permanent residence. To grant them citizenship would not commit the United Kingdom to accepting any new group of permanent residents. Then there are the British Protected Persons and the British Subjects without Citizenship who have made their homes here; a few of the British Subjects without Citizenship are exempt from immigration control but generally they and the British Protected Persons are not exempt. But they, like the citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies mentioned above, have for the most part already been accepted for permanent residence. They are here to stay; and to grant them British Citizenship with the right of entry to the United Kingdom would not involve any new immigration commit-
ment.
(b) Possible arrangements for those who have the right of entry but would not
become British Citizens
29. Some people who now have the right of entry to this country under the Immigration Act 1971 would not become British Citizens if the law were amended as suggested above. These are:-
(i) citizens of a Commonwealth country with a parent (in practice almost invariably the mother) who was a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies by birth in the United Kingdom;
(ii) women Commonwealth citizens who have the right of entry at present because, and only because, their husbands have the right of entry;
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