FROM HONG KONG BILL UNIT
05.21.1990 16:17
"Spouse's"
NO. 5
WP Disc No :..STK.2
Under the Immigration Rules, the spouse of a British citizen is entitled to accompany him or her to the UK for settlement at any time before or after 1997 provided that certain requirements are met.
i)
ii)
CAC CAD
that the primary purpose of the marriage was not to obtain admission to the United Kingdom;
that the parties to the marriage have met and intend to live permanently together; and
iii) that the parties can maintain and accommodate themselves
adequately without recourse to public funds.
In practice very few spouses seeking admission from Hong Kong find these tests difficult to meet. In 1989, 320 spouses and fiance(e)s in Hong Kong were granted entry clearances to settle in the UK on the basis of marriage to British citizens resident in Hong Kong, and 6 applications were refused.
During the Second Reading of the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Bill, the Home Secretary gave a further assurance that the widow or widower of a British citizen who was resident in Hong Kong at the time of his or her death would be allowed to settle in the United Kingdom at any time as if coming here as the spouse of a British citizen. To benefit from this assurance the widow or widower must still be resident in Hong Kong, not have remarried, and not have citizenship of a third country (i.e. other than Chinese nationals or British passport holders).
The basis of this undertaking is to ensure that the spouse of a British citizen would not be stranded in Hong Kong in the event Such considerations do not of of the British partner's death. course apply where the spouse is already resident elsewhere, or In these circumstances, the has citizenship of a third country. widowed spouse of a British citizen would have to qualify for admission either in his or her own right (for example,
a work permit businessman, a person of independent means holder) or as the dependent of a relative who is already settled here.
a
as a
Turning now to the nationality position, the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Bill provides as you know for the grant of British
number of key citizenship to
limited
their people and dependants in both the public and private sectors in Hong Kong. We concluded that it would not be right to include as part of this package an amendment to the British Nationality Act 1981 to allow time spent in Hong Kong to count towards the 3 year United Kingdom residence requirement for the spouses of British citizens who wish to acquire British citizenship. The whole basis of the British Nationality Act 1981 is that citizenship, for both men and women, should involve a period of residence in this country. For the spouse of a British citizen that period of residence is 3 years and is designed to ensure that the non-British spouse has
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