Mr Forman
PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL
får Wow/in No action.
Enter ope.
W 29/12
From the Private Secretary
Dev Philip.
سلا
ET MON
10 DOWNING STREET
LONDON SWIA 2AA
MKD 340/9
HONG KONG BUSINESSMEN
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AC
Hong Kong Sett
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ps/lad frenaulter
Рум буда My pu 988
20 December
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Fillmore
M Melonen
SEAD iTeasdal
Walduses
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The Prime Minister and the Home Secretary had a furthe discussion this afternoon on the subject of settlement of businessmen from Hong Kong prepared to invest substantially in the United Kingdom.
The Prime Minister noted that the Home Secretary had already agreed to use his discretion to reduce the qualifying period for settlement in cases where someone was ready to invest £150,000 or more to three years. She thought that, in cases where significantly larger sums of investment were involved and the people concerned were able to contribute in a major way to Britain's interests and prosperity, the Home Secretary should be ready to reduce the qualifying period for settlement further still, for instance to two years.
The Home Secretary recalled that the Immigration Rules required a period of four years' residence to qualify for settlement. He did not think it practicable to change the rules. But they did give him some flexibility and he would be ready to use that. The process of approaching people and encouraging them to seek settlement in the United Kingdom would have to be conducted very discreetly. If it was done too openly, it might be subject to challenge in the courts. Subject to this, he would be prepared to use his discretion in the way suggested by the Prime Minister including acceptance of a two-year qualifying period in special cases. But he would not wish to refer explicitly to the two-year option in print. It should not, therefore, be included in the written statement of the flexibility available to him, which was currently being revised, and could be handed to selected people in Hong Kong.
The Prime Minister was grateful for the Home Secretary's assurance. Taken with the other points already agreed and the regular reports on implementation requested in my letter of 19. December, she regards this as representing a satisfactory strengthening of our efforts to attract enterprise and investment from Hong Kong to this country.
니
PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL
20 DEC 88 LETTER POWELL - MAWR
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