TNAG-1082-FCO40-1332-Implications-for-Hong-Kong-of-changes-in-the-British-nationa-1981 — Page 47

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qualified under clause 7's ordinary residence criteria would be dealt with

under the discretionary provisions of new clause 9. The relevant provision of that clause is subsection (3)(a); This permits the Secretary of State to accept, in the special circumstances of a particular case that the residence requirement is met if the period of absence is more than 450 days in five years or more than 90 days in the last year of the five.

12.

For these reasons I hope that the Committee will accept that it would now be sensible to drop clause 7. Members of the Committee will of course be able to put down amendments to, and discuss, new clause 9 in due course. We are not proposing

to take it out of order.

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