CONFIDENTIAL
73. While the reaction of the public has been in favour of removing discrimination there has been no clear preference for any of the 4 possible options mentioned in paragraph 50 of the Green Paper, viz:
(i) to give men married to citizens the same entitlement which women who are married to citizens now enjoy;
(ii) to give spouses of both sexes who are married to citizens an
entitlement to citizenship but to make this subject to a residence requirement of, say, 3 years;
(iii) to treat spouses on the same terms as other applicants for
citizenship;
(iv) to treat spouses on the same terms as other applicants for
citizenship, but to give both sexes some concessions on the length
of residence.
74.
The Government could not contemplate a general provision under which
all spouses of British Citizens would have an entitlement to acquire
citizenship; as pointed out in paragraphs 49 50 of the Green Paper, a
provision of this kind would inevitably have repercussions on immigration
and in particular the possibility that bogus marriages might thereby be
encouraged cannot be ignored.
75. In considering what provision should be made in the future the
Government have been influenced by the fact that since the 1948 Act was
passed ideas on the status of women have changed. They will propose in
the Bill that for both sexes the means of obtaining British Citizenship
shall be the same, that is that a spouse should first be accepted for
settlement in the United Kingdom, but that he or she should be able to
apply for naturalisation after a somewhat shorter period of residence than the normal one; they will propose 3 years.
76. The Government are aware that there will be a number of women married
to Citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies who when the Act comes into
force will not have exercised their entitlement to be registered. Many of
them will of course have had good reason for not doing so because, for
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