TNAG-1192-FCO40-1494-Implications-for-Hong-Kong-of-changes-in-the-British-nationa-1982 — Page 15

ever ase repeat exactly the definitions of citizenship

in the British Nationality Act 1981.

Under that scheme

there would have been five possible descriptions of

national status in British passports:

i) British Citizen for those with a right of abode in

the United Kingdom.

ii) British Dependent Territories Citizen (BDTC) plus

the name of the dependent territory for those

with right of abode in a particular dependent

territory.

iii) British Overseas Citizen (BOC) for those who

inherit a claim to citizenship which is not

reinforced by sufficient connection with the

United Kingdom or with a particular dependent

territory to give them the right of abode.

iv) British Protected Person (BPP) for those whose

interests we would protect abroad but who have no

claim to citizenship nor to any right of abode in

the United Kingdom or in a Dependent Territory.

v) British Subject for a small number of residuals

who for passport purposes can be bracketed with

BPPS.

All these categories apart from the first, British

citizen, are expected to diminish over the years; BDTCs

as dependencies become independent, and the remaining

three categories because the status of BOC, of BPP and

of British Subject cannot in general be transmitted by

1

descent.

矍

1

4. The advantage of the system just described is that

it ties descriptions in passports firmly to the terms

1

1

used in the recent Nationality Act which in turn are

/compatible

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