TNAG-2937-FCO40-4212-Future-of-Hong-Kong-nationality-British-National-(Overseas)-1993 — Page 23

CODE 18-77

Mr Rooney, NTCD

MKD 340

298

Reference..

REC

Reference: HKD 340/1

15 DEC 1993

(2961

BN (0) PHASED REGISTRATION PROGRAMME

1.

2.

Please see Miss Ho's letter of 3 December to Mr Woodrow.

Miss Ho proposes arrangements for notifying overseas applicants about the outcome of appeals for late applications, ie in cases where the applicant has missed their window under the programme for a reason not falling into the criteria listed in DSP and the application is therefore referred by the overseas post to Hong Kong for consideration by the Director of Immigration. As I understand it, the Director may grant the application or, if he does not grant it, he must forward it to the Governor's Appeal Panel for a decision. (The drafting of Miss Ho's letter suggests that this final step is not automatic, as I had believed; do you know whether referral to the Governor's Panel is automatic?) Miss Ho's advice is that the ultimate authority in matters of registration and naturalisation rests with the Secretary of State. She suggests, subject to the Secretary of State's agreement, that the Governor be delegated to exercise the Secretary of State's functions as they touch on the BN (0) programme and that the Governor in turn instruct the Director of Immigration to notify overseas applicants direct about the outcome of their appeal.

3. This course seems sensible to me. It will mean that overseas posts need not be involved in notifying applicants who have appealed from their patch. I would be grateful for your comments on the course proposed by Ms Ho and for your advice on how we should take this forward (submission recommending the Secretary of State to request the Governor to exercise this function, with a trigger telegram for Hong Kong?).

4. I would be grateful for a copy for our records of the DSP which sets out the arrangements for the acquisition of BN (0) status by BDTCS and lists the criteria for acceptance of late applications (FCO telno 181 paragraph 4 refers).

For Miss Brooks: do you see any problem with Ms Ho's suggestion or any advice on the language which we should use

A nave

5.