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5
(c) The Criteria for Admission under the Orderly Departure
Programme (ODP) and the potential future intake
under the ODP
This again is a question which relates to the Home Office's
area of responsibility. The UK played a major role in setting
up the Orderly Departure Programme which was negotiated in
1979 between UNHCR and the Vietnamese Government as a system
of selective emigration from Vietnam. To date, over 72,000
Vietnamese have left under this scheme. We regard it as providing
the best alternative to irregular departures by boat. Last
year we took between 500 and 600 and since the scheme was
initiated we have taken just over 2,000.
The criteria currently applied, which will be well known to the
Sub-Committee, are that the spouse and minor dependent children
of refugees already in this country may be admitted, and that
careful consideration is given on a case-by-case basis to
applications for reunion from other relatives. Since May 1981
the same criteria have been applied to Vietnamese family
' reunion cases as to those involving refugees of other
nationalities.
It is difficult to judge the potential future intake under
the ODP. Home Office have told us that there are up to
2, 000
cases still in the pipeline, ie visa promissory letters
have been issued for this number. It is unlikely that all of these will be taken up, since some will be refused exit visas (see answer to question '1') by the Vietnamese Government and
others may elect to go elsewhere. But we cannot afford to reduce
our commitments under the ODP (which we played a
major role in setting up) without jeopardising the programme
or provoking an adverse reaction from other resettlement countries.
Nor can we readily refuse to accept those for whom promissory
notes have been issued. We see the ODP as best viable
alternative to departures by boat. As the ODP numbers have
increased, so the number of boat people arrivals has tended
/to
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