Hong Kong - BDTC case

[timlondon83]

Hi,

Got a slightly complicated 2 fold question about my mother's status and where to get a definite answer from Home office.

History -
1. My mother was born in Hong Kong in '62.
2. My mother entered the UK on Aug '79 as 'settling with parents' - she was given a 'indefinite leave to enter' status and stamp in the passport. Her passport were British black book type, nationality was CUKC, issued in Hong Kong.
3. My mother's parent were naturalised British Citizen. However my mother never went through the process of naturalisation and remained in UK for 38 years.
4. Her last passport had her nationality as BDTC, it expired in 30th June 1997 (supposedly just before Hong Kong handover).
5. She has not had a valid passport since and have not left UK.


So the 2 interwined questions are:
1. How to go about getting her valid travel documents that would allow her to return to the UK.
2. Process of getting British citizenship

The clarification that Home Office gave somewhat confused the matter a little -
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ ... H.pdf.html
I couldn't tell if British Overseas Territories Act 2002 overrode the point "Former ethnic Chinese Hong Kong British Dependent Territories Citizens
(BDTCs) who did not register as BN(O)s ceased to hold British nationality on
1 July 1997 and became Chinese nationals."

So is my mothers process either:
a) Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passport from Chinese embassy. Then apply a Biometric residence permit to prove her 'indefinite remain to enter' status?
b) Apply a renewal for her BDTC passport from UK Passport Office - will they return a BNO type?

Then there's the small details of:
i). Given the story, is the 'indefinite leave to enter' still valid?
ii). How does Home Office's 'EM' form play into this - is the form/process relevant?
iii). Is it worth doing Home Office's 'NS Confirmation of status as a British citizen' form/process.

Thanks for your help in advance.
Tim.

[secret.simon]

3. My mother's parent were naturalised British Citizen.

Was only one parent naturalised or were both? Do you know under which law were they naturalised?

Is your mother of ethnic Chinese descent?

Is she still resident in the UK or has she been absent from the UK at any time for a period of more than two years?

[secret.simon]

4. Her last passport had her nationality as BDTC, it expired in 30th June 1997 (supposedly just before Hong Kong handover).

As the document you linked to later explains, the BDTC status of people from HongKong ceased with the 1997 handover. Before the handover, they were given a choice to register as BNOs (note that it was not automatic, but must be applied for). If they registered as BNO, they retained it for life but, to the best of my knowledge, could not pass it on to their offspring.

The HongKong BDTCs who did not register to become BNOs before the 1997 handover either became Chinese citizens (if they were ethnically Chinese) or BOCs (if they were not ethnically Chinese).

Because Hongkong BDTC status ceased on 1st July 1997, the British Overseas Territories Act 2002 does not affect people from Hong Kong (unless they hold a BDTC/BOTC because of a connection with an overseas territory other than Hong Kong).

Following the Tiananmen Square massacre, there were fears of a brain-drain from Hong Kong. To alleviate some of the fear, the British government granted full British citizenship to 50,000 people chosen by the Governor and their immediate families (spouses and children) under the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Selection Scheme.

It is probable that your mother's parents were naturalised (technically registered) under this provision. If that is the case, your mother is likely to have been included in their registration certificate and therefore is a full British citizen already (again, only if her parents were registered under that Scheme).

I think this should give you enough of a starter to start making your own inquiries with your mother's family.

Further reading
British nationality law and Hong Kong (Wikipedia)

[timlondon83]

Thanks for the help. Sounds like she is definitely is a Chinese-HKSAR national by default but has Permanent residency in UK. Which means HKSAR passport application and a BRP card to prove the residency status.

I guess the remaining question is what the process is for getting British Citizenship.

To answer some of the questions:
- She has lived in the UK for over 38 years since 1979. She has not left UK for any period for longer than 3 months.

- Both her parent was naturalised as UK citizen. What happened was that her dad was a British Telecom engineer who as sent to UK as an employee through a sponsor. I don't know which law he invoked for naturalisation. But once he got it he brought his family (wife, 3 children including my mother over to the UK). My mother's passport has an entry certificate which allowed her to enter the UK under the reason of 'Settlement to join father'. When she arrived her passport was immediately stamped with 'Given leave to enter to the United Kingdom for an indefinite period'.

- Hence this has nothing to do with the 50,000 family chosen to be UK citizen phase.

- Once in UK, her mother naturalised as UK citizen and got a British passport. She did that because she had travel needs.

- My mother never went through the naturalisation process. She had 1 passport renewal in 1988, and she was given BDTC one. It expired in 1997 before the handover and she never dealt with it.

Given the circumstance, I don't understand whether she needs to naturalise as a permanent residenace who has stayed in UK for over a year. Would she need to take the new citizenship test as a result?

Or would there be a claim or nationality through descent?

[secret.simon]

Is she ethnically Chinese?

[timlondon83]

Yes - she is ethically Chinese.

[JAJ]

She arrived after 1977 so would not automatically have become a British citizen under the transitional provisions of the British Nationality Act 1981, in force from 1.1.1983 [automatic British citizenship for settled Citizens of the U.K. & Colonies with 5+ years residence].

Her parents naturalised [or registered] as British citizens- some time after 1.1.1983, presumably. Is there any chance they might have applied for her British citizenship at the same time?