TNAG-1125-FCO40-1400-British-Nationality-Act-1981-and-the-Dependent-Territories-1982 — Page 179

DSR 11C

Background

3.

There is currently only one format for British

passports issued in the UK and at FCO ports overseas.

During the passage of the new nationality legislation Ministers said that in the future passports would continue to look much the same as at present. Consequently the

introduction of more than one sort of passport would be

open to criticism both by the dependent territories and by critics of the Act on the ground that Ministers had misled

Parliament and were now trying to distance the UK from those UK nationals who are not BC. Governors of dependent territories who issue their own passports will continue to

do so.

4.

·

Ministers have stated in Parliament that they

envisaged the nationality description in the passport of a BDTC would be 'British Dependent Territories citizen' followed by the name of the territory from which the holder derives his citizenship. Our Legal Advisers are of the view that if a punctuation mark before were inserted or brackets put around, the name of the territory the effect

Te momir would be to modify the title 'British Dependent citizenéh This is a unitary citizenship for all the dependent territories and any suggestion that it is linked with a particular dependency should be avoided. Although space in the passport is limited there is sufficient room for both 'British Dependent Territories citizen' and the name of the dependency without modifying the title.

5.

Our present citizenship of the United Kingdom and Colonies relates both to the UK and overseas territories. Consequently passports need to contain an endorsement when the holder has the right of abode in the UK itself. The principal purpose of the 1981 Act is to identify those who belong to the UK and have the right to live and enter here freely. In achieving that purpose (by creating British citizenship) the continuation of the practice of inserting a right of abode endorsement in passports would undermine the Act. It would also suggest that there are

/British