TNAG-0971-FCO40-1190-Resettlement-of-Vietnamese-refugees-from-Hong-Kong-in-the-UK-1980 — Page 211

20

GAS 350

CONFIDENTIAL

CONFIDENTAL

FM HONG KONG 1583402 MAR 80

TO PRIORITY FCC

TELEGRAM NUMBER 303 OF 15 MARCH

HELE

I like 2B. Can

prosne quickly with

мо?

YOUR TELNO 222: VIETNAMESE REFUGEES: RESETTLEMENT IN UK.

1. THE SUGGESTION IN PARA 2(B) OF YOUR REFTEL WOULD POSE SOME PRACTICAL DIFFICULTIES. WE OFTEN HAVE VERY SHORT NOTICE OF DROPOUTS, PARTICULARLY FOR MEDICAL HOLDS WHERE ONLY ONE OR TWO DAYS NOTICE IS AVAILABLE, AND THERE IS JUST NOT ENOUGH TIME TO REPLACE THEM. THIS IS BECAUSE WE ARE CUTTING THE PROCESSING TIME HERE TO THE ABSOLUTE MINIMUM, FOR THIS SUGGESTION TO WORK, WE WOULD NEED:

(A) BLANKET AUTHORITY FROM YOU (OR JCRV) TO REPLACE DROPOUTS WITH

WHOEVER ARE AVAILABLE. WE WOULD OF COURSE INFORM JCRV AS EARLY AS

POSSIBLE: AND

(B) THE IMMEDIATE MEDICAL EXAMINATION OF ALL REFUGEES SELECTED,

IRRESPECTIVE OF CALL-FORWARD LISTS, SO THAT MEDICAL HOLDS CAN BE DETECTED AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE. ICEM COULD DO THIS IF YOU AGREE.

2. THERE ARE HOWEVER ALTERNATIVES WHICH WOULD BE ADMINISTRATIVELY

PREFERABLE:

(A) JCRV COULD CALL-FORWARD AN AGREED PERCENTAGE MORE THAN THE

TARGET INTAKE EACH MONTH, AND WE WOULD THEN ENSURE THAT ONLY

THE TARGET NUMBER ACTUALLY DEPARTS: OR

(B) JCRV COULD SIMPLY LET US KNOW THE NUMBER AND TIME OF AVAILABILITY OF PLACES AT EACH RECEPTION CENTRE, AND THE IMMIGRATION DEPARTMENT HERE WOULD SELECT THE REFUGEES AVAILABLE AT ANY MOMENT TO DEPART AS SCHEDULED. WE WOULD TELEX TO JCRV THE NAMES OF REFUGEES DEPARTING ON EACH FLIGHT. THIS WOULD AVOID THE NEED TO FIND REPLACEMENTS FOR DROPOUTS, WHICH IS NECESSARY, AS AT PRESENT, WHEN SPECIFIED REFUGEES ARE CALLED FORWARD.

3. WE THINK THAT ALTERNATIVE 2(B) WOULD BE BETTER. GRATEFUL

Olu

IF YOU COULD PASS THESE SUGGESTIONS TO HOME OFFICE FOR CONSIDERATION

4. WE HAVE JUST BEEN INFORMED BY ALAN MARSHALL (JCRV) THAT ALL RECEPTION CENTPES IN UK ARE NOW FULL, AND FOR THE TIME BEING THERE WILL BE NO MORE CALL-FORWARDS. DISAPPOINTINGLY IT NOW SEEMS LIKELY THAT THE MARCH DEPARTURE FIGURE WILL NOT EXCEED 600,

PROBABLY LESS.

MACLEHOSE

you

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HRGD (4)

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COPIES HONG KONG

GOVT OFFICE

THIS TELEGRAM

WAS NOT ADVANCED

MR WOODFIELD) HOME OFFICE, MR GODDARD QUEEN ANNE'S

GAME

NEWS D

MR CORTAZZI

MR MURRAY

LORD NG LENNOX

CONFIDENTAL

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