TNAG-2194-FCO40-3131-Hong-Kong-nationality-package-1990 — Page 64

CONFIDENTIAL

KES

Those who

succeed

are

exacting.

likely to be highly qualified, with no, or only a handful of others working in the same field in Hong Kong, and able to show that they [as individuals] make a significant contribution to the success and well being of Hong Kong."

Ministers were content with the proposed operation of the KES. You agreed to ensure that any people applying under the GAS who might consider themselves eligible for the KES would be aware of the sort of information which they would need to include in support of their applications.

Disciplined services

We spoke on the telephone about your suggestion that it should be possible to reserve separate allocations for different ranks. You agreed to consider whether the same ends could be achieved by use of the special merit points.

Changes to the draft Bill

A number of changes have been made, and the revised text has been sent separately by FCO. The changes include:

i)

ii)

iii)

iv)

a power to determine the cut off date for applications by spouses and minor children later, rather than specifying it in the Bill;

the removal of the reference to the public/private sector ratio, and the definition of what constitutes the public sector;

the inclusion of the appropriate reference to naturalisation, as well as paragraph 4(1)(a) of Schedule 1;

the removal of the reference to consultation with the Governor before amendments are made to a scheme submitted by him.

We have retained the provision for a second tranche cut-off date for applications for BDTC status by CoI holders, to bring them within the scheme. We were unhappy about excluding someone whose application for BDTC had been submitted, but not fully processed.

Minor children

Your letter of 27 March points out a mistake in paragraph 17 of Annex A to my letter of 21 March, for which I apologise. But there is evidently still some confusion. The requirement for minor children is that they should be under 18 at the time of their (rather than the parent's) application. In practice, we imagine that applications for most children will be submitted at the same time as those of their parents.

CONFIDENTIAL