Foreign & Commonwealth
Office
12 June 1992
Mr Charles Wardle MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State
Home Office
50 Queen Anne's Gate LONDON
SW1
London SWIA 2AH
From The Minister of State
HKD 340/6
097
(29
Dew Charles
BRITISH NATIONALITY ACT 1981: HONG KONG
Thank you for your letter of 22 May about OMELCO's request for a group of Hong Kong children to be registered as British citizens under section 3 (1) of the British Nationality Act 1981.
During my recent visit to Hong Kong Dr Leong from OMELCO asked about the progress being made on this matter. I spoke as proposed in your letter. Dr Leong replied that your offer to consider each case on its merits was encouraging, but he clearly preferred a blanket agreement if possible.
His current estimate of numbers was about 140 families involving some 200 children. He understood that many of these families had already petitioned the Home Office and he undertook to let us have further data about them.
I am grateful for the offer to consider each applicant on its merits. But I do not believe that it deals adequately with OMELCO's wishes. It would leave uncertainty in the minds of the families, and if in the event some children were accepted and some rejected, could kindle further controversy. With the small numbers involved, I think it would be much more effective politically to deal with the whole category in one decision, and remove this as an irritant before Mr Patten takes up office.
Could I ask you to take a further look at this in the light of the petitions from the individual families, and let me know whether a clear-cut solution would be possible?
ем
Мс What
ALASTAIR GOODLAD
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.