TNAG-1199-FCO40-1501-Hong-Kong-immigration-legislation-1982 — Page 127

ER.

as matters primarily concerning the Department of Employment rather than the immigration control. If Ministers are content we will prepare a draft letter accordingly,

(ii) Report of Sub-Committee on Race Relations and Immigration 24. The report was published on 28th of this month. In the normal course

we would aim to publish a reply when Parliament reassembles, but this would

mean publishing the reply at about the same time as the White Paper. The

report recommends abandoning the register and increasing the rates of

acceptances under the special voucher scheme. It contains no recommendations

on the Immigration Rules and it seems best to try to distance this exercise

as much as possible from the White Paper. It would not be possible to have

a reply ready much before the White Paper is published and in any event it

would be unusual to publish a reply in the recess. We could hold off replying

until the New Year when the debates on the Rules are out of the way, but such

a delay for a relatively minor report would be hard to justify and could lead

to speculation. On balance we would recommend publishing the reply in late October/carly November, after the White Paper but before the debates on

11 November. Alternatively the reply could be delayed until after the debates, although it would then be almost 4 months since the report had been published.

Conclusion

25. Ministers are invited

(1) to approve the text of the draft White Paper, incorporating the

following minor changes which are now:

(2)

:

raising of monetary limits for businessmen, the self-employed

and persons of independent means from £100,000 to £150,000 (capital sum) or £10,000 p.a. to £20,000 p.a. (income) (paragraph 12 of submission);

- amendment of paragraph 6 of the Rules as requested by the

Foreign and Commonwealth Office (paragraph 13 of submission);

- amendment of paragraph 107 of the Rules relating to the administration

of the work permit scheme (paragraph 14 of submission);

- amendment of paragraphs 24 and 97 of the Rules relating to students (paragraphs 16 and 17 of submission);

to circulate the draft White Paper to Members of the Home and Social Affairs Committee as in the draft letter for approval subject to minor drafting changes (paragraph 20 of submission);