TNAG-2198-FCO40-3152-Hong-Kong-nationality-spouses-and-widows-of-British-expatria-1990 — Page 216

Julian Walsh Esq

The Concerned British Expatriates Association

Flat F

6th Floor

3-36 Robinson Road

Hong Kong

Thank you for your letters of 8 November to the Minister and 29 November to me about the Hong Kong spouses of British citizens.

Last December you called on Mr Alan Paul, the Head of Hong Kong Department, for a discussion on the particular problems faced by the non-British spouses of British expatriates in Hong Kong in the lead up to 1997 and beyond. Mr Paul informed you then that we were looking at this particular problem in the context of the nationality package which was to be announced shortly thereafter.

The Government's intention is, as you now know, to introduce legislation to provide for the grant of British citizenship to a limited number of key people and their dependents in both the public and private sectors in Hong Kong. It was decided that it would not be right to include as part of this package an amendment to the British Nationality Act 1981 along the lines proposed to allow time spent in Hong Kong to count towards the three year UK residence requirement for the spouses of British

The Citizens who wish to acquire British Citizenship. policy of treating men and women equally as regards the requirements for obtaining British Citizenship was carefully considered when the 1981 British Nationality Act was being prepared. It was clearly untenable to retain the old position under the 1948 Nationality Act whereby the wife of a British Citizen had a right to British Citizenship regardless of whether she had ever been to the UK. The requirement that both men and women should fulfil a period of United Kingdom residency was regarded by Parliament as having the merit of treating the sexes equally while ensuring that citizenship was obtained only those who had some residential link with this country. Special arrangements apply for British Citizens serving abroad who are in Crown Service, but, for the most part, it is expected that the wives of expatriate British Citizens will achieve settlement and, eventually, citizenship in the normal way if they accompany their husbands to the United Kingdom.

DADAAR