TNAG-2198-FCO40-3152-Hong-Kong-nationality-spouses-and-widows-of-British-expatria-1990 — Page 102

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JUL '90 13:00 FROM BE HOME OFFICE

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the spouse will be given a formal letter issued on my behalf confirming that the Immigration Department has seen evidence of a valid marriage. The letter will explain that the spouse is eligible to settle in the United Kingdom providing that the Immigration Rule requirements are met. It will also include an assurance that a later application for entry clearance will be given priority treatment in view of the information which has already been noted. We are still finalising the details of this, but we hope it will be possible to start providing this service very soon.

I have also given further thought to the terms of the assurance I offered during the Second Reading of the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Bill to the widows and widowers of British citizens in Hong Kong. I accept the points which you made that spouses are concerned about their position if the British citizen were to die, even where they have the citizenship of a third country in their own right. I have thus decided to extend the assurance so that, regardless of nationality, the widow or widower of a British citizen who was resident in Hong Kong at the time of his or her death will be allowed to settle in the United Kingdom at any time as if coming here as the spouse of a British citizen, providing only that he or she has not remarried and is still resident in Hong Kong.

I very much hope that the new arrangements for recording and confirming spouses' details and the change to the assurance for widows and widowers will give the British citizens in Hong Kong the confidence they need. He shall obviously seek an opportunity to put this of the Parliamentary record, as that may in itself provide further reassurance. This may well come during the forthcoming proceedings in the House of Lords on the Hong Kong Bill, but in any event I shall ensure that we make a Parliamentary announcement fairly soon.

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