CONFIDENTIAL
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B
4. The request under consideration could therefore only be met by amendment of the British Nationality Act. Such an amendment could not be incorporated in the present Order in Council. A separate Act would be required, such as was the case with the Act conferring British citizenship on all Falkland Islanders. If it were in principle decided to meet the request, detailed legal advice would be required on the options. A completely new section could be added to the Act which could be as finely drawn as policy required. Alternatives would appear to be either to amend Schedule 1 to permit naturalisation on grounds of past, as well as present, Crown Service (thus opening up the possibility of application to all former members of our Armed Forces whatever their nationality), or to amend Section 4 so at least confining registration as a British citizen to other British nationals who have previously served in the Armed Forces. Although it might be technically possible, I do not see how in practice it would be defensible to confine an amendment to BDTCs connected with Hong Kong who were members of the Armed Forces before the end of the last war. We have been engaged in conflicts since (Korea, Malaysia, the South Atlantic and our Peace-keeping Forces spring to mind to say nothing of Northern Ireland) and I do not see how one could distinguish between those who actually fought and those who spent their service in quieter sectors.
5.
zee (85
You have asked if we can obtain any estimate of the numbers that might be involved if a concession were extended to all ex-servicemen BDTCS. FCO telno 85 of 13 January to Hong Kong asks for fuller details, in due course, of those who would be concerned in Hong Kong. We could only obtain estimates of such persons in other dependent territories by a similar enquiry which it would probably not be wise to do at the present time, thus exciting interest. The numbers, however, must be very small (since the populations of our remaining dependent territories are very low) and I would hardly think that many in other territories would wish to uproot themselves at this stage in their lives. There will also be BOCs, and possibly some British subjects and BPPS, with such former service in various parts of the world. There has been much resentment from persons of UK ancestry that service in the Armed Forces in India (often a family tradition) did not facilitate the acquisition of CUKC status under the 1948 Act.
15 January 1986
але
D W Partridge
Nationality & Treaty Department
CONFIDENTIAL
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