TNAG-1188-FCO40-1490-Implications-for-Hong-Kong-of-changes-in-the-British-nationa-1982 — Page 117

Mr Watts

Deputy Legal Adviser

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No

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BRITISH NATIONALITY ACT 1981:

CITIZENSHIP IN PASSPORTS

1. I would be grateful for your advice on the description of British Dependent Territories citizen to be inserted in passports. The present revival of the problem has been prompted by a letter of 16 March (attached) to the Lord Privy Seal from the Governor of Hong Kong.

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2. As you may recall, during the course of the Nationality Bill Hong Kong pressed hard to be treated differently from other dependencies, by being classed as British citizens not British Dependent Territories citizens. With this background in mind, the Governor has suggested in his letter of 16 March (paragraph 3) that British Dependent Territories citizens should be called "British (Hong Kong) Citizens" in their passports. This seems merely another way of trying to obtain the title of British citizen. Of course, the mere title in their passports will not entitle Hong Kong British Dependent Territories citizens to the privileges of British citizens as set out in the Nationality Act 1981. But it will certainly lead to considerable confusion in the minds of foreign customs officials etc. since on the one hand Hong Kong belongers will be British Dependent Territories citizens and yet on the other hand they would be described as a species of British citizen, for which the British Nationality Act 1981 makes no provision.

3.

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The Governor alternatively suggests "British (British Dependent Territories citizen: Hong Kong)". The proposal might make better sense if it were re-worded "British Dependent Territories citizen: Hong Kong. This seems far preferable to British (Hong Kong) citizen. However this title if adopted for each dependency would appear to go some way to undermining the unitary concept of British Dependent Territories citizenship which we were at such pains to preserve during the course of the Bill. Moreover, throughout the provisions on BDTCS in the Nationality Act 1981, acquisition of British Depen- dent Territories citizenship may be obtained by virtue of a connection of several dependent territories. This is necessary for practical reasons and because of this and because of the undesirability of creating an impression of separate citizenships for each dependent territory I would prefer not to adopt this particular solution. Another previously suggested solution was to add the name of each dependency in brackets after the title "British Dependent Territories citizen eg "British Dependent Territories citizen (Hong Kong)". This however appears to incorporate the name of the dependency in the title itself which would be tantamount to modifying the title given to persons belonging to dependencies in the British Nationality Act 1981. Other solutions have been mooted .previously, of which the most acceptable appears to be to put the

name of the dependent territory below the nationality description;

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