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Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
M J Abram Esq OSLO
Telephone 01- 213 4266
Your reference
Our reference
GVV HK/349/1
Date
6 August 1985
Dear Abram,
NORWEGIAN VISA REQUIREMENTS ON HOLDERS OF BRITISH PASSPORTS WITHOUT RIGHT OF ABODE (BPHWRA)
1.
Please refer to Alan Cambridge's letter of 23 June 1983 and to the letter dated 4 July addressed by the Political Adviser, Hong Kong, to Ehrman, Hong Kong Department.
2. We cannot trace a reply to the first letter referred to and are unaware of what action you took. Whatever it was it did not induce the Norwegians to remove their visa requirement on BPHWRA which they introduced in 1981 despite the assurances about BHPWRA contained in Conyard's letter to Pariss of 25 February 1982. We trust, nevertheless, that you reserved our position with regard to the 1947 Visa Abolition Agreement (VAA).
3.
The discussions with the Home Office forecast in paragraph 4 of Conyard's letter GVV/HK/349/1 of 29 September 1983 to Young, Immigration Department, Hong Kong, have yet to take place. Following the 1984 UK/China Agreement on the future of Hong Kong we have been under considerable pressure from Hong Kong to ease the way of Hong Kong Dependent Territory Citizens (BDTC) travelling abroad. In the case of Norway this means making the best use of 1947 VAA. However, we are obliged to seek equal treatment for BPHWRA. Therefore, what we seek is that the Norwegians should waive their visa requirements on BDTC, British Overseas Citizens and British Subjects under Part IV of the British Nationality Act 1981, who with British Citizens constitute the present day equivalent of the category of 'British Subject' in the 1947 VAA.
Unless you see objection would you please sound out the Norwegians informally. The following general arguments may be employed.
4.
(a) Dependent Territories (apart from special cases like Ascension Island and the Falkland Islands) do not impose an entry clearance requirement on Norwegian visitors (in the spirit of the 1947 Agreement).
(b) We are not aware that BDTCs (or BOCS and British Subjects) constitute an immigration problem to the Norwegians.
(c) We do not expect the Norwegians to grant visa-free entry to
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