TNAG-2629-FCO40-3820-Future-of-Hong-Kong-nationality-British-National-(Overseas)-1992 — Page 34

14.

- 9

An Order in Council under the relevant part

of the draft Order to be

given by resolution f

of the Hong Kong Act 1985 requires approval / each

House of Parliament.

ре

* Therefore the timing will depend

upon the Parliamentary timetable and enactment may take

several months.

Naturalization & registration

کاست

BDTCS

15.

We do not propose a phased campaign for

naturalization.

That would be seen by the Chinese as a

plot to encourage people to become British nationals.

There are also legal difficulties as explained in

paragraph 16. kut, as explained above, we can only

quarantee to process applications received before

mid-1996. Even that depends on securing the Governor's

agreement to streamline procedures. If we cannot, the

"quarantee" date would be 12 months earlier.

16.

To enable us to process applications in time,

we will need the legal power to impose a cut-off date

It appears that

5 2(3) 1785 Act (either 31 May 1995 or 31 May 1996). giver power neither the BNA 1981 nor the Hong Kong Act 1985

provides such a power. We think it likely that getting

it will entail an amending order under the latter and

will seek advice on this from London. If we cannot get

this power, we will simply have to rely on publicity,