Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill

moved Amendment No. 18:"Page 32, line 7, at end insert ““; provided that the provisions of this subsection shall not apply to an applicant who is a—" (a)   British citizen, (b)   British overseas territories citizen, (c)   British Overseas citizen, (d)   British National (Overseas), (e)   British subject, or (f)   British protected person.”” The noble Lord said: My Lords, I apologise for having to revisit the subject of tests for registration when we have already covered the matter very thoroughly. The first amendment in this group provides that any person who is a British citizen and who has no other nationality and has not renounced any other nationality should be entitled to the same benefit as those who were covered earlier in the clause. They would not have to satisfy the good character test. Amendment No. 28, to leave out paragraph (d), would exclude people who register under the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1997 from the good character test. I will not go into the arguments that have already been discussed today about the inappropriateness of subjecting a person who is solely a British national and is de facto stateless to a good character test in order to acquire British citizenship. Is it lawful to impose such a requirement on applicants for citizenship in the light of our obligations under the 1961 UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness? British national overseas status, like the status of British overseas citizens, British subjects and British protected persons, does not carry the right of abode anywhere. A British national overseas, who is not Chinese, will automatically lose the right of abode under the Hong Kong immigration ordinance if he ceases to be ordinarily resident in Hong Kong and has   been absent for a continuous period of more than 36 months after obtaining settled status in any other place. As your Lordships will be aware, being settled in a country with no time limit on your stay does not amount to nationality or citizenship. Even in Britain, we have numerous long-term residents who are unable to obtain British nationality and can be removed at the pleasure of the Secretary of the State, if he thinks it conducive to the public good. Like the vast majority of British overseas citizens, British subjects and British protected persons coming under Section 4B of the 1981 Act and ordinarily resident outside the UK, the group of persons covered by Amendment No. 28 are solely British and have no entitlement to any other nationality. It is a contradiction in terms for somebody who is already British and holds solely a British passport to be refused citizenship of this country. There is one other important point to be considered on this amendment. In the run-up to the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997, we extended what was then termed a ““cast-iron guarantee”” to the solely British ethnic minorities of Hong Kong. They were told that they would be admitted to the United Kingdom and would have an entitlement to register as British citizens. It is a disgrace for us now to renege on a commitment that we made to this group of solely British people. Amendment No. 33 is of a different nature altogether. I would have asked for it to be degrouped had I not realised that it had been put with this group only when I came into the Chamber. As a matter of form, I wish that the groupings of amendments could be issued by the Government Whips’ Office somewhat earlier in the day than was the case today. I know that that is not a matter for the Minister, but now it is on the record. I see the noble Lord, Lord Grocott. I do not know whether he heard what I said, but it would have been convenient to have had the groupings much earlier than we did, instead of having to look at them just as we came into the Chamber. This amendment seeks to bring British nationals overseas into Section 4B of the British Nationality Act 1981. It follows the amendment that we tabled at an earlier stage to achieve the same effect by removing the ““ordinarily resident”” requirements of the 1997 Act, but I hope that your Lordships will agree that this present drafting is clearer and more elegant. The Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, by inserting a new Section 4B into the 1981 Act, gave otherwise stateless British nationals the right to register as British citizens as long as they were solely British and irrespective of where they were resident. When the Home Secretary announced in July 2002 that he was tabling an amendment to the then NIA Bill, he said that it would ““right a historic wrong”” that had left stateless tens of thousands of Asian people who had worked closely with the British colonial administration. Fiona Mactaggart, who is now a Home Office Minister, said that the coming into force of Section 4B meant that,"““the most racialist underpinning of Britain’s immigration and nationality laws is about to be swept away””.—[Official Report, Commons, 5/11/02; col. 147.]" In enacting this amendment, we will remedy the limbo status of probably the last remaining group of solely British nationals who have no other nationality or citizenship, who have not recently and deliberately given up another nationality or citizenship and yet who do not come under the provisions of Section 4B of the 1981 Act despite having no entitlement to acquire the citizenship of any other country. The group in question are solely British nationals overseas who were not ordinarily resident in Hong Kong on 4 February 1997 and can never satisfy the requirements of the 1997 Act. Consistent with the policy that all otherwise stateless British nationals without the right of abode in the United Kingdom should have the entitlement to register as British citizens, this small group of people should be entitled to do so, too. They hold only British passports, their sole identity is British and yet they do not have the right to reside in any British territory. We have a strong obligation to this group of people under the UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, Article 10.1 of which says:"““Every treaty between Contracting States providing for the transfer of territory shall include provisions designed to secure that no person shall become stateless as a result of the transfer. A Contracting State shall use its best endeavours to secure that any such treaty made by it with a State which is not a Party to this Convention includes such provisions””." The 1984 Sino-British joint declaration on Hong Kong made specific provision for the indigenous Chinese population of Hong Kong to be recognised as Chinese citizens. Despite our convention obligations, it made no provision for the non-Chinese, solely British ethnic minorities of Hong Kong to acquire proper citizenship. That was made clear by the current Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, who, on 30 January 1997, said that,"““common sense and common humanity demand that we give these people full British citizenship. The limbo in which they will find themselves in July arises directly from the agreements which Britain made with China””." I know that the Minister has considered this matter and that she did not see the force of the arguments that we put earlier. However, I hope that she will be convinced by what I have said this evening and agree to this amendment. I beg to move.