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28 JU 1993
Coles muiepting
pu
Ethanz Ans₤116
SIR JOHN COLES' MEETING WITH THE GOVERNOR OF HONG KONG: 29 JULY
Checklist of points to make
Ethnic Minorities; Wives and Widows
As a result of your latest approach, Mr Goodlad wrote again
to Charles Wardle on 21 July putting the case for the ethnic minorities and recommending that the Home Secretary might use
what discretion he has under the residential rules of the
British Nationality Act 1981 in favour of any wives or widows
who wish to settle here.
- We await a reply to Mr Goodlad's letter. But in a written
answer on 26 July to a PQ by Graham Allen MP on the granting
of full British Citizenship to members of the non-Chinese
ethnic minorities, Mr Wardle again maintained that the
position of the ethnic minorities was adequately protected and
that the Government had no plans to introduce further
legislation to make specific provision for them. The Home Secretary has also replied on these lines to Emily Lau's latest letter to him (dated 15 July). We therefore see no prospect that the Home Office intends to change present policy
on this issue.
- On the question of citizenship for the wives and widows of ex-servicemen the Home Secretary has discretion to waive absences during the qualifying period when residence is
established. Informal discussion with the Home Office
suggests, while the applicant must be present at the beginning
of the qualifying period, and while very prolonged absences
would be inconsistent with the principle that British
citizenship should flow from a close personal connection with
the UK, there nevertheless remains scope for flexible use of
discretion allowed for under the Act. We hope that Home
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