14 December 1993
Page
BILLET
Foreign & Commonwealth
Office
London SWIA 2AH
From The Minister of State
Peter Temple-Morris Esq MP
House of Commons London
SWLA OAA
MULD 34018
RECEIVER IK BESIST
Inut,
15 DEC 1993
67
Dew Peter.
Your letter of 1 December asked about the position of widows of Hong Kong servicemen.
As you note, representations for British citizenship for these ladies continue to be made both in Hong Kong and in London. The question of British citizenship for them has been very carefully considered by Ministers. The problem is that there is no provision in nationality law to grant British citizenship to a person who is not resident in the United Kingdom. So we do not have the power to grant what they are asking for. But assurances have been given by Ministers that these ladies are welcome to come to the United Kingdom at any time to settle and to apply for British citizenship in the normal way (that is after fulfilling the relevant residence qualifications). We have also done all we can to ensure that once any of these ladies decides to apply for entry clearance to the United Kingom, their applications can be processed very quickly indeed.
نقلسلات
ALASTAIR GOODLAD
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