TNAG-2188-FCO40-3125-Hong-Kong-nationality-package-1990 — Page 154

CONFIDENTIAL

2.

(e)

(£)

(g)

(h)

define the forms of citizenship to be granted. Under the British Nationality Act 1981 British citizens can pass on their citizenship to their children, unless they are citizens 'by descent'. The 50,000 primary beneficiaries will come under the former heading and their spouses and children under the latter;

place the Governor under a duty to draw up the main selection scheme while empowering the Secretary of State to submit it to Parliament, amended as he thinks fit after consultation with the Governor. In view of the intention to hold over some grants of citizenship to a time nearer 1997 the Bill will need to provide adequate flexibility in matters of timing and phasing and to enable the form of the schemes to be changed if necessary. It may also need to prescribe the circumstances in which persons may make repeated applications, for example to reflect changed circumstances;

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preclude so far as possible Courts, either here or in Hong Kong;

review of decisions by the

ensure that the arrangements are wound up tidily by July 1997, perhaps prescribing suitable cut-off dates for the receipt and processing of applications.

The approved secondment scheme will carry a five year qualifying period for citizenship. This will mean that selection will need to have been completed by 1992. It will be for the Secretary of State to submit the scheme to Parliament. Since the demand for the scheme will be unpredictable it will be essential to prescribe in advance the maximum number of places to be available under the scheme, within the overall 50,000 ceiling. Such matters will probably need to be stated on the face of the Bill.

The Selection Schemes

Although I hope to keep the detail of the main selection scheme and the approved secondment scheme in subordinate instruments, we cannot finalise the drafting of the Bill until the schemes are settled. It will also be politically essential to publish an outline of the schemes at the same time as the Bill itself and we shall also need costings of the machinery both here

CONFIDENTIAL

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