TNAG-2374-FCO40-3449-Hong-Kong-nationality-UK-passport-scheme-British-Nationalit-1991 — Page 18

to anchor key people in Hong Kong and the number of places available is necessarily finite. It is inevitable

that many people in the private, as well as the public sector, will have been disappointed that they would not

benefit from the Scheme.

Your former colleagues also seem to be under some

misapprehensions concerning salaries and UK connections.

The amount a civil servant earns is irrelevant for the

or

In

purpose of the Scheme. The points system under the Scheme does not involve any comparison of salaries between civil servants and private sector personnel, among civil servants in different grades and ranks.

fact, the only occupational group where salary plays any

role at all is in the "managers and administrators"

quota, where civil servants are not in competition with

their private sector counterparts, but have their own

sub-quota of places. It is also not the case that civil

servants would lose out on UK connections.

Under the

British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1990, Crown Service under the Government of Hong Kong (or of the UK)scores UK connections points.

Your suggestion about giving civil servants the right of

abode in the UK on the strength of their passports is not

entirely clear to me. Anyone, whether in the civil

service or the private sector, who secures citizenship under the Nationality Scheme will of course have right of

abode in the UK. If you mean that British Dependent

Territory citizens who are civil servants over 35 should

automatically have right of abode in the UK, this would hardly be fair to other British Dependent Territory citizens in Hong Kong, nor would it be legally possible without new primary legislation.

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