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arrangements relating to passports issued by the Governor as
agent for the Secretary of State should be as close as
possible to the existing arrangements in Hong Kong, namely
that the Hong Kong Government should pay for blank passports
ordered, that they should meet all the administrative costs
of maintaining and operating the Passport Section of their
Immigration Department, and that they should retain any
surplus of the consular fees collected. In their letter of
The Hong
10 March the Treasury have agreed to this proposal.
Kong Government had already intimated that this type of
arrangement would be acceptable to them and indeed is the one
which they would prefer. They fully understand that the
consular fee they will be required to charge for passports
issued under the Secretary of State's authority may be lower
than that which is charged for passports issued in Hong Kong
in the Governor's own exercise of the royal prerogative.
98. It will be for the Government of Hong Kong to continue
setting the fee for passports they issue before 1 July 1997.
8DTCS.
to British Dependent Territories citizens (BDTCs). Such
passports will continue to be issued in the Governor's
exercise of the royal prerogative.
validity to 30 June 1997.
They will have a maximum
From 1 July 1997 a United Kingdom consular office will
be responsible for the issue of passports to all categories
of British nationals in Hong Kong. The normal financial
arrangements relating to passport and other consular fees
will then apply in the same way as at all other overseas
posts.
B
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