necessary entry clearance would be processed speedily. As Lord Ferrers announced in the House of Lords on 23 July, we are therefore making arrangements whereby the spouse of a British citizen resident in Hong Kong may approach the Hong Kong Immigration Department who act for us in entry clearance matters with evidence of the marriage. The details will be noted in a register of non-British citizen spouses of British citizens and the spouse will be given a formal letter issued on behalf of the Home Secretary confirming that the holder is married to a British citizen. The letter will explain that the spouse is eligible to settle in the United Kingdom provided that the requirements of the Immigration Rules are met. It will also include an assurance that a later application for entry clerance will be given priority treatment in view of the information which has already been noted. The Home Office are still finalising the details of this, but we hope it will be possible to start providing this service very soon.
Mr Buckley refers to the assurance given by the Home Secretary during the Second Reading debate on 19 April that the widowed spouse of a British citizen resident in Hong Kong will be allowed to settle in the UK at any time as if coming here as the spouse of a British citizen. As Lord Ferrers indicated in the House of Lords on 16 July, this assurance it now applies whether or not the widowed spouse has citizenship of a third country, provided only that he or she has not remarried and is still resident in Hong Kong.
I hope that these assurances and the new arrangements for recording and confirming spouses' details will remove any fears which British citizens in Hong Kong may have had about the position of their spouses.
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The Rt Hon William Waldegrave
Sir Nicholas Bonsor Bt MP
House of Commons
LONDON
SW1A OAA
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