TNAG-2161-FCO40-3083-Hong-Kong-visa-abolition-agreements-1990 — Page 59

Mr Thompson MVD

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Asked MUD to chase Ho for comments on para 5 before we telegraphi Hve. Pro/9.

(c. Mr Paul

2. MS 345 Ms345

cc: Mr

Reference.

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Mr Sainty HKD

Minute

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42,

see (44)

13/9

Mr Rankin Legal Advisers Mr Ritchie B2 Home Office Mr Henderson Passport Dept

RM CL 236

3. P.a.

STRY

14 SEP 1990

REGIST

Mr January WIAD Ms Jennison WED Mr Hamilton NTD Mr Bensberg

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Vienna

attached

VISA ABOLITION AGREEMENT: UK/AUSTRIA

1. I was finally able, on 24 August, to call on the Austrian Minister Dr Erlich to discuss the above. He was grateful for the fuller note (containing Mr Paul's suggested paragraph, mainly about Hong Kong) which I duly left with him.

2. Dr Erlich said that his authorities had been utterly confused by the different "British passports" and they had been unable to work out what conditions applied to the different categories hence their pointed note of 13 July 1990. The question of returnability or re-admission was uppermost in their thinking and he was grateful therefore for our clear response.

3.

Dr Erlich was perhaps too diplomatic to question me about the position of BDTC passport holders who have enjoyed visa free access to Austria on the strength of an erroneous verbal assurance given six years ago that they all had the right of re-admission to the UK. Now that we have clarified the position Dr Erlich asked how we could take matters forward. We outlined 3 possible scenarios:-

4.

a) maintain the status quo

b) revise our visa abolition agreement to include

dependent territories (ie the right of return to)

c) exclude dependent territories (apart, presumably, from

Gibraltar which is already included) and invite them to conclude separate visa abolition agreements with Austria.

He

Dr Erlich said that option a) was hardly possible given that we had now established that most BDTCs and BN (0) passport holders did not have the right of re-admission to the UK. suggested, therefore, that before he takes the matter up formally with Vienna we may wish to decide what course of action would suit us he pointed out, however, that he did not know how Vienna would react to options b) or c).

A

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