Dr J Hoare PEKING
CONFIDENTIAL
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
HKB 345/1
RECEIVED IN
"elephone 01- 270 404
INDEX
Your reference
Our reference
15 AU 1990
N
Date
8 August 1990
Dear the Hoare,
GRATIS VISAS
1.
pa
Da on "Visu pokin"
() ན་ཅིག་
file)
1318
Thank you very much for your very full and helpful letter of 5 July about gratis visas.
2. As you mention, there are particularly strong political factors to take into consideration, with the Hong Kong dimension very much uppermost in our thinking. At a time when we are trying to improve relations with the Chinese even a relatively minor irritant such as visa fees could assume a greater significance. We would clearly not wish this to happen.
3. Our position has, for the moment, been much eased by the fact that our negotiations with the Treasury, over the question of our cost recovery target, have gone well. We are not yet home and dry but the Treasury are sympathetic to a number of our concerns, one being a realisation that the potential income lost by the issue of gratis visas should somehow be accommodated within any agreed cost recovery target in respect of our entry clearance operation.
4.
It is, of course, impossible to give longer term undertakings as we need to look at our whole entry clearance effort on a regular basis but for the moment at least we can place the question of gratis visas issued in Peking on the back burner. That said, should we again revert to the question of gratis visas in the future we will certainly ensure that FED, HKD and the Hong Kong Government are consulted.
5,
Incidentally, you mention in your letter (para 5) the need to consult the Hong Kong Immigration Service over the question of gratis visas issued in Peking etc. In your para 7 you say that not much revenue would accrue to us. In fact, when we issue visas on behalf of other countries or dependent territories we
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