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Mr Morris
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PRIME MINISTER
ANFIDENTIAL
HOME
SECRETARY
HONG KONG ASSURANCES
or land, HKD
9A5
PS/M Mande
Mr Mclaren
Legal Advisers Mr Lidington
& C
1/
In his minute of 29 March, the Solicitor General confirmed that it would be possible by primary legislation, if we wished, to deem that time spent in Hong Kong fulfilled the residence requirements of Section 4 of the British Nationality Act 1981. I have now had an opportunity to reflect on the policy implications of this approach, and believe that it would not be suitable for the scheme which I am proposing.
Section 4 of the 1981 Act (apart from sub-section (5) which relates only to Crown Service) applies to people resident in the United Kingdom, and although it allows the Home Secretary some limited discretion in the amount of residence required in individual cases, it would be a fundamental change in its nature to apply it to people who were not resident in the United Kingdom at all. Moreover, Section 4(2) gives a BDTC entitlement to registration as a British citizen if he or she has been resident for five years (and is free of restriction under the immigration laws). It provides no basis for a selective approach, and gives me no grounds for refusal even if a person were not of good character. Our current commitment to provide citizenship for up to 50,000 key people in Hong Kong depends very much on a selective approach, focusing on those making an important contribution to the life and economy of Hong Kong. Although residence in Hong Kong will be a prerequisite, many other factors will be taken into account. Moreover, our scheme provides for the selection of successful candidates to be carried out by the Governor and not by me.
Finally, Section 4 does not provide for the registration of dependants and, as you know, offering an
offering an assurance to the whole family has been an important element in our proposals for keeping key people in Hong Kong.
CONFIDENTIAL
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