TNAG-1473-FCO40-2004-Visits-by-MPs-from-the-UK-to-Hong-Kong-1986 — Page 111

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DSR 11C

1997 to acqui re British Overseas Citizenship i f

would otherwise be

stateless.

they

These provisions comply

fully with our obligations under the UN Convention on the

Reduction of Statelessness.

BN(O) status will confer much the same rights as

BDTC status except that it will not be

further generations.

agreement the Chinese

would not accept that

acquire British

transmissible

to

During the negotiations on the

we re

quite categorical that they

any one born after June 1997 could

by virtue of a connection

nationality

with what will then be a Special Administrative Region of

the People's Republic of China.

the

However the ethnic minorities in Hong Kong led by

Council of Hong Kong Indian Associations, and

supported by the Unofficial Members of the Legislative

Council in Hong Kong, have claimed that the status of

British National (Overseas) does not provide them with an

effective citizenship because it does not confer the

right of abode in the territory of the country which

issues it (ie the UK), it cannot be passed on to future

generations, it cannot

Hong Kong and although two generations born after 1 July

1997 will have a form of British nationality,

and

the right of guarantee

subsequent generations will

generations will be stateless.

abode in

the third

They a re

therefore pressing HMG hard for the right to be

registered as British Citizens, which will give them the

right of abode in the UK.