TNAG-0980-FCO40-1199-Implications-for-Hong-Kong-of-changes-in-British-nationality-1980 — Page 111

PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL

108A

Nationality and Treaty Department

Foreign and Commonwealth Office Clive House Petty France London SW1H 9HD

All Officers Administering

Telephone 01-213

Governments of Dependent Territories

Your reference

Our reference

Date

(1)

See HICK 340/1 1981

SNN340|1 (26)

3 October 1980

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NEW NATIONALITY LAW: INSTRUCTIONS TO PARLIAMENTARY COUNSEL OF THE BRITISH DEPENDENT TERRITORIES

CITIZEN

In para 6 of his letter of 24 September Wilfred Jones said that work was proceeding on the drafting of a Bill. I am now able to send you copies of Part 6 and Part 7 of the Home Office's Instructions to Parliamentary Counsel dealing with the acquisition of CBDT under the transitional and permanent provisions of the proposed Bill.

1.

2.

Certain of these provisions are currently being reconsidered by the Home Office and may well be amended or omitted before they are translated into Clauses in the draft Bil1. However, my purpose in sending you copies of the Instructions at this stage is to seek in the light of your local knowledge your comments on any particular aspects of the provisions which may have escaped our notice. Because we have no authority to give in advance details of the likely provisions of the Bill you should not at this stage consult anyone who does not have access to correspondence in the Personal series.

Transitional Provisions

The General Section (6.1) closely follows the White Paper and the Dependent Territories mentioned in 6.11 are those named in para 95 of the White Paper.

3.

4.

The provisions 6.21(a), (b) and (d) repeat the proposals given in para 35 of the White Paper. 6.21(c) includes a provision that a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies (CUKC) who has at any time been settled in a dependency without being subject under that dependency's immigration laws to any restriction on the period for which he might remain, and had at that time (and while a CUKC) been ordinarily resident there for the last 5 years or more should automatically acquire CBDT when the new law comes into operation. Such a provision was included in the White Paper at para 32(d) for British citizenship but not for dependent territories citizenship. We have taken this up with the Home Office but meanwhile perhaps you could say how you think the provision would be received locally.

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PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL

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