TNAG-2644-FCO40-3837-Emigration-from-Hong-Kong-overseas-rights-to-abode-and-passp-1992 — Page 58

March 1992

The Hon Joseph Bossano The Chief Minister

6 Convent Place

GIBRALTAR

}

HKD 341/3

1.

2.

Thank you for your letter of 26 February.

I have now had a chance to look into this issue in more detail. I can confirm (with apologies!) that your understanding that the UK had agreed to issue British passports to those selected whilst they were resident in Hong Kong was in fact correct.

3.

As you know the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1990 (BNHKA) was one of the measures taken in the aftermath of Tiananmen in order to restore confidence in Hong Kong. The object of the scheme was to reassure key personnel in the public and private sectors by offering them the chance of obtaining British Citizenship without having to leave Hong Kong. In this way it was hoped to reduce the damaging effect of emigration by providing the assurance of the right of abode in the UK to a significant number of people who were key to Hong Kong's continuing success and so to anchor them in Hong Kong.

4. The scheme provides for the registration as British Citizens by the Secretary of State of up to 50,000 people recommended to him by the Governor of Hong Kong and for the registration of their spouses and children under 18. The selection of citizenship is being operated in two tranches. The majority of places (43,250) are being distributed in the first tranche as quickly as administrative processes in Hong Kong permit. So far over 11,450 heads of household and their dependents have been registered. The second tranche (about 13% of the overall total) is being reserved for allocation nearer to 1997 to cater for those people who would by then have moved into key positions and to give any who had failed to secure a place in the first round a second chance.

5.

As you will gather from the above, the purpose of the scheme is to encourage these people to remain in Hong Kong, where their talents will continue to contribute to the territory's stability and prosperity. We have no expectation that any significant numbers of them will wish to come to the UK in 1997 or thereafter. But it is no part of our policy (or that of the Hong Kong Government) to place obstacles in the way of Hong Kong people pursuing opportunities elsewhere. So recipients of citizenship under the BNHKA would be free to settle (or invest) in any part of the EC if they wished.

MANAIN