where the main British interests in various consortia are
Trafalgar House/Costains, Balfour Beatty, and Mowlems. British companies will also bid for contracts involving the rail link, which are due to come on stream later.
Nationality
21. The exodus of talented people from Hong Kong is a problem which Britain takes very seriously.
For this reason it was felt that special measures had to be devised to give key people in the public and private sectors of the community the confidence to remain in Hong Kong. These measure took the form of the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1990, which came into force on 7 November 1990. Under this scheme full British citizen passports will be offered to a maximum of 50,000 key personnel (plus spouses and children under 18) both in the public and private sectors, without the beneficiaries having to leave the territory and take up residence in Britain to acquire citizenship. The deadline for applications for the first tranche of passports was 28 February 1991. Over 65,000 applications were received for the 43,250 places available, an oversubscription of more than 50%. The Hong Kong Government are processing these applications new and aim to complete this first tranche during 1993. The remaining places in the second tranche will be issued near to 1997 in order to
provide an opportunity to some other Hong Kong people who will by then have move into key positions. The nationality scheme has contributed to the restoration of confidence in
Hong Kong.
22. As well as the nationality scheme Britain has also taken every opportunity to encourage our partners and allies, especially those with close economic and social ties with Hong Kong, to consider taking similar measures. The results have been encouraging and some countries, including Singapore, the USA, France, the FRG, Belgium and Luxembourg, have already found ways in which to help.
JH4ABS/7
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