TNAG-1189-FCO40-1491-Implications-for-Hong-Kong-of-changes-in-the-British-nationa-1982 — Page 13

7.

(a)

(v) the place(s) and length of the child's residence; (vi) the citizenship of both parents at the time of the

child's birth.

Staff are advised to consult the Instructions relating to the operation of any section of the Act which they consider may be relevant to a particular case.

Fees and Oath of Allegiance

(a)

(b)

Section 42(1) provides that a person shall not be registered unless he or she has paid the prescribed fee and, if required to do so, taken the oath of allegiance. The fee is pre- scribed in the appropriate BN Regulations and the oath of allegiance is set out in Schedule 5 to the Act.

All applicants for registration under section 4 will be

required to pay the prescribed fee but only Bpps ɗ full age will be required to take the oath of allegiance. (c) Except for those exempted on nationality grounds, section 42

requires all persons of full age to take the oath of allegiance in order to be registered (or naturalised) there is no exception for persons who are not of full capacity. Staff are not required to look for such cases but if an application is made for the registration of a minor who is a Bpp and it is known or becomes known that the minor's mental capacity is affected in such a way as would make it impossible for him or her, if an adult, to take the oath of allegiance the application should be seen by an EO and given sufficient priority to enable it to be determined, if possible, before the minor attains majority.

(d) Furthermore because there is no requirement to be of full

capacity in order to make an application, it is conceivable that an application will be made by, or on behalf of, an adult Bop who is not of full capacity. If it is known or becomes known that this is the case, it should be ascertained whether or not the applicant would be able to understand the significance of taking the oath of allegiance.

If the applicant is incapable of taking the oath of allegiance, it must be explained that the application cannot proceed even though the applicant meets the requirements of section 4.