TNAG-2952-FCO40-4229-Hong-Kong-visa-free-travel-for-British-Nationals-(Overseas)--1993 — Page 13

presumably

Mr Parkinson

Mr Sindon

HKD 345/3

RECE

IN

- 9 NOV 1993

ISTRY

tion Taken

pu visagree entry.

Мів Валась Jones olu

Mrs

AD HOC WORKING GROUP ON IMMIGRATION: 14/15 OCTOBER

عليال

Joodnw

24/10

1. There were three points worth recording/requiring follow- up, in addition to Vietnam, on which I am minuting separately.

2.

Hong Kong. I told the leader of the Dutch delegation that we hoped they would not impose a national visa requirement on Hong Kong. He confirmed that they had no intention of doing so. Unlike his Belgian colleague whom I had similarly lobbied last month, he said nothing about HK BN (O)s being returnable to the UK, which had so disconcerted me at the time. In fact, Mr Mulcahy has discovered that under the UK/Benelux Visa Abolition Agreement of the ?1950s, those

because they countries can indeed repatriate all "British citizens",

do not nad

ал

Ee for

including BN (0)S, to the UK. Not surprisingly, however, this is not something that the Home Office wish the world to be

visit. But reminded of, or wish to extend to other countries (e.g. would be Conduct Austria) in the context of the current proposal to negotiate

a Hong Kong Visa Abolition Agreement with them.

3.

with the bill for Sending them on: not necessaemity,

Iseem to

remember treat

HKG agreed to

Spring for thes

Schengen Fees. I also discussed this with the Dutch. Much of what they told me had been overtaken by reporting on the Paris meeting on 18 October. However, he told me that the "normal" fee for a Schengen uniform visa would be the Ecu equivalent of about £30 on current exchange rates.

If so, and the same fee rates were applied to EFC uniform visas (as and when ...) this should allay our concern about our finances being undermined by having to reduce our fees substantially. I asked about the Germans. He said he expected that, because they said they could not go back to Parliament to ask for a large increase in visa fees so soon after having put the controversial asylum legislation through, they would be allowed a period of 12 to 18 months to bring their fee levels up to the rate charged by the others. If so, it will be interesting to see if the Schengen version of Conclusion 24 can cope with numerous applicants realising that they can get a Schengen visa from the Germans very much more cheaply than from the other 8.

4.

Readmission Agreements. During the meeting, Mr Fortscue (CEC) said that he welcomed the idea of seeking to establish linkage between the willingness of recipients of EC aid/cooperation etc to accept back their own citizens, and the volume etc of that aid. However, he thought that his colleagues on the external relations side of the Commission would consider the proposals in the papers concerned (WGI 1638, 1653, 1658 and 1672) far too schematic and mechanistic for use in all circumstances. He would consult his colleagues but said that we should not expect this linkage to provide an instant solution to the readmission problem. On a practical point, it was unfortunate that 10 year agreements with some sensitive (in this context) countries had only recently been signed or renewed.

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