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World War should be granted British citizenship. And third, that British Dependent Territories citizens in Hong Kong who were not ethnically Chinese, who had not
exercised their rights to be British Nationals (Overseas) and who had no other
form of nationality, should be granted British citizenship in 1997 rather than British Overseas citizenship.
7.
The Government agreed to consider each of these points fully and carefully. As a result, as the House will know from my announcement on 23 April, we have met two of the three requests.
8. For the British National (Overseas) passport we will place in each an
endorsement which will read: "In accordance with the United Kingdom Immigration
Rules the holder of this passport does not require an entry certificate or visa
to visit the United Kingdom." 11
An explanatory leaflet will be given to each
passport holder which will make clear that we welcome visitors from Hong Kong
and which will set out the holder's position under the present Immigration Rules.
I am glad that this has been welcomed by the Unofficial Members of the Legislative
Council.
9.
I am
We have also agreed to meet the concern for the ex-servicemen.
There are
about 270. Of these, some 60 or so are eligible to apply for registration as
British citizens under section 4(5) of the British Nationality Act 1981.
ready to consider sympathetically any applications from these ex-servicemen.
To meet the needs of the others, I have agreed also that any of the 270 may be
accepted here for settlement, together with their dependants. The Legislative
and Executive Councils have also welcomed these arrangements.
C
10. We considered long and hard the third request that British citizenship
should be granted to British Dependent Territories citizens who were not ethnically
Chinese and who might risk statelessness after 1997. We accept fully our
commitments to this community, and we intend to honour them in full.
But we
have also to consider the implications of going as far as they have asked. We
believe it is not necessary in order to provide them with the proper measure
of security they need, and that there would be considerable implications in the
years ahead which we could not responsibly ignore.
11.
First,
We have approached the problem with two firm principles in our minds.
no British Dependent Territories citizen should have any reason at all to fear
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