TNAG-1085-FCO40-1335-Implications-for-Hong-Kong-of-changes-in-the-British-nationa-1981 — Page 185

PS/Mr. Luce

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CONFIDENTIAL

Mi Fowned

NATIONALITY BILL:

CITIZENSHIP BY DESCENT

Jason

340,

Viny

245 1604/7

1

1. I am sure that Mr. Luce will wish to see, at his convenience, Mr. Jones' minute of 7 August, which I see has already been copied to you.

'Ne

2. Mr. Jones is in effect saying that the FCO can cope with changes to the Bill involving decisions on citizenship by descent (whatever they may be) and also that, in principle, the question of whether to extend the terms of the Nationality Bill to allow citizenship by descent as far as the second generation born. abroad is a Home Office rather than an FCO matter.

3. I do not dissent from this, though if Home Office Ministers go as far as Mr. Jones suggests they may in paragraph 2 of his minute, I would imagine that the Home Secretary will wish to discuss the matter with his Cabinet colleagues before coming to a final decision.

4. I hope I may be forgiven what is in fact a political reflection, but I personally find it astonishing that Home Office Ministers should be contemplating, under pressure mainly from the British community in the EEC, extending citizenship by descent to the second generation; indeed I cannot quite believe

that this is what they really intend.

5. The immigration' consequences of the Home Office's earlier amendment (in response to race relations lobby pressure) to the original draft Bill, in allowing citizenship by descent in the first generation born abroad to those who had acquired their nationality by registration or naturalisation and not only by birth, was in itself momentous enough. This amendment allows those of new Commonwealth descent, and here I am thinking particularly of those originating in the sub-Continent, to continue indefinitely what is their fairly common practice of marrying partners (and of course we shall in future be dealing with descent in the female as well as the male line) in the sub-Continent and allowing the children of the union to be brought up there until the statutory age before the unification of dependents is reached. Thus, any illusion that the new Bill might somehow have discouraged people of new Commonwealth origin from living indefinitely in 'two worlds' (see paragraph 7 below) has already been frustrated. But by allowing citizenship by descent to the second generation, it will be possible for such

CONFIDENTIAL

/families