TNAG-1125-FCO40-1400-British-Nationality-Act-1981-and-the-Dependent-Territories-1982 — Page 191

CODE 18-77

SS 8/78

Miss Brett Rooks

Reference

Pl. necine. with 1980/81 pps.:

1571

HKG 340/1

Af

ег

BRITISH NATIONALITY ACT 1981: CROWN SERVANT PROVISIONS

1.

Sub-sections 2(1)(b) and (2)(b) of the BNA 1981 make special provision for the children born overseas to British citizens serving outside the United Kingdom in Crown service under

the government of the United Kingdom provided their recruitment took place in the United Kingdom.

2.

Sub-section 2(3) enables the Secretary of State to treat in the same way as Crown service any description of service which he considers to be closely associated with the activities outside the United Kingdom of HMG in the UK.

3. We are now considering what sorts of service meet the criterion set out in para 2 above. Ministers have said that examples are the British Council and HMOCS. I should be grateful if you would let me know whether there are any other sorts of service in which you have an interest. For example a governor of a dependent territory appears to meet the criterion. But is he automatically a member of HMOCS by virtue of his appointment? And is he recruited in the UK?

4. At the time Ministers gave HMOCS as an example we in NTD understood HMOCS to be a body similar to the Diplomatic Service. But we wonder whether this is so. I believe some members of the former are recruited (perhaps whilst overseas) for a particular post and at the end of their appointment cease to be members of HMOCS. If this is the case then it may not be possible to treat all members of HMOCS in the same way.

5. We also need to know which organisations constitute HMOCS and, as the service was only formally brought into being in the mid fifties, we need to consider what is to be done with a claim under Section 2(3) from a person who was born to a parent prior to the formation of the service who was in employment which would subsequently have been recognised as being within HMOCs.

14 January 1982

Nationa

H M Paterson

Nationality & Treaty Department