TNAG-2183-FCO40-3120-Hong-Kong-nationality-international-support-1990 — Page 80

DRAFT

J. Moris

cc.

CONFIDENTIAL

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

London SW1A 2AH

APS/Mur Caret-Jones

hr Chamberlain (371

Legal Advisers

Mr Pearey, SED

| Viol@ption of DI Careful for your views/agreement

Har I should send this,

RA Harrington Esq

Head of Nationality Division:

Home Office

Lunar House

Wellesley Road

Croydon

CR9 2BY

RECEIVED IN REGISTRY

11 OCT 1990

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DESK OFFICER

INDEX

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9 October 1990

GIBRALTAR: HONG KONG IMMIGRANTS

1.

Not on file

Thank you for your letter of 21 September! We took account of your views in the briefing for Mr Garel-Jones' visit. The Minister told Mr Bossano that we could not accept a scheme that might breach the commitment we had given the House on numbers. Mr Bossano said frankly that he could not see a way forward and asked for our advice on how he could provide an assurance which would be attractive to Hong Kong and meet his objectives whilst satisfying ours. I trust, therefore, that we can be confident that there will be no early, and potentially embarrassing, announcements of a scheme from Gibraltar.

2. Bossano gave the impression that he had not clearly thought through the precise mechanism by which Gibraltar could give assurances to Hong Kong people, (although we now know from separate direct contacts with officials of the Gibraltar Government that they have taken on board that they do not have the power to give an assurance leading to automatic citizenship without the approval of the Governor). Mr Bossano's request for advice may, of course, simply be a negotiating tactic (he is a shrewd operator), but prima facie he appears to be asking us tell him what to do. This gives us the opportunity to advise him on the sort of scheme which would fulfil the requirements of our lobbying on international support and at the same time not run any risks of breaching the 50,000 limit. I would welcome your advice on what sort of scheme we might wish to advocate that would be possible within Gibraltar's Immigration Regulations.

3. For ease of reference I enclose copies of Gibraltar Immigration Regulations (which you may already be familiar with). The key element in making any assurance attractive to Hong Kong and consistent with our objectives is that it should not require the recipient to leave Hong Kong in order to qualify. At first sight I do not see any obvious method of doing this in the Immigration Control Ordinance.

CONFIDENTIAL