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Towards the end of our debate on the two Hong Kong British
Nationality Orders on 13 July you asked two questions on which
I undertook to write to you.
First you queried the date (31 March 1996) beyond which residents
of Hong Kong will be unable to seek naturalisation as British Dependent Territory citizens (BDTCS). You suggested that this
was too far ahead of the date (1 July 1997) when the Chinese
assume Sovereignty and that it would preclude many people from
acquiring British National (Overseas) BN(0) status.
We chose 31 March 1996 as the deadline because it currently takes
18 months in Hong Kong to process applications for naturalisation
as a BDTC. It is the same process that operates here, with
enquiries being carried out into residence, periods of absence,
character and so on. Hong Kong are streamlining procedures in Lattempt to reduce this processing time but it is unlikely to drop below 12 months, unless there is a a significant fall in the numbers of applicants. A little time is needed beyond that to
deal with any application for conversion of BDTC status to BN(0) status and to issue the BN (0) passport.
We do not know how may people will submit applications over the
next few years for BDTC and then BN (0) status. The Hong Kong
Immigration Department may have an enormous workload in the run up to 1997. We decided therefore in consultation with the Hong
Kong Government that a deadline on BDTC applications 15 months
before handover to the Chinese would strike the right balance between the need to meet any wishes of the Hong Kong people to become British nationals, and the need to have sufficient time, if there are large numbers of applicants, to enable Hong Kong immigration staff to do the necessary work.
Your second question asked about the machinery and criteria for
dealing with late applications. The procedure will be that those
who miss the deadlines (including those who are overseas) will
be able to submit their applications to the Director of
No comments yet.
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