TNAG-0979-FCO40-1198-Implications-for-Hong-Kong-of-changes-in-British-nationality-1980 — Page 72

to provide that although their nationals were henceforward foreigners in United Kingdom law they were to continue, for a limited time, to retain their eligibility to acquire our citizenship by registration as if they had continued to be Commonwealth citizens, rather than by naturalisation. Important amendments in the qualifications for acquiring citizenship of the United Kingdom and Colonies were made in the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962 and the Immigration Act 1971. Apart from these amendments there have been others, for example to meet the United Kingdom's obligations under international. agreements. As a result of these numerous amendments British nationality

law has become difficult to follow.

8. The most serious drawback to the status of citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies is that it does not provide a ready definition of who has the right of entry to the United Kingdom. In most other western countries,

citizens and citizens only - automatically have the right of entry. Under our system, a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies may not have any close ties with the United Kingdom, or even with a remaining Colony. So, when successive Governments found it necessary to control immigration from the Commonwealth, they found themselves obliged to distinguish between the citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies whose close ties with the United Kingdom gave them a claim to be freely admitted here, and the remainder. These distinctions within a common citizenship have been hard to follow.

Numbers

9. In the absence of any form of national registration and as there is no requirement for our nationals living abroad to register with our diplomatic

missions, it is impossible to give precise figures and the numbers quoted

below are therefore the best estimate that can be made.

10. Altogether there are about 950 million people throughout the world who

are "British subjects" in our law. Most of these are, of course, citizens of independent Commonwealth countries. Of the rest, 57 million are citizens of

the United Kingdom and Colonies by reason of their close connection with the

United Kingdom itself and are exempt from United Kingdom immigration control. A further 3 million (of whom 2.6 million are in Hong Kong) are citizens of the

United Kingdom and Colonies by virtue of a close connection with an existing

dependency. These do not have a right of entry to the United Kingdom, but

they do almost invariably have a right of admission to a dependency. There

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