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SCMP Reporter

AT first sight it seems a trivial matter; one British-style passport or the other, what does it matter?    But miss any of the proposed deadlines to exchange your black British Dependent Territory Citizen (BDTC) passport for the smaller, burgundy-coloured British National (Overseas) BN(O) passport and you could find yourself facing an uphill struggle.

    By law, you will have lost your right to apply for a BN(O), even before 1997.

  And as of July 1, 1997, you will no longer be entitled to the privileges of a BDTC including British consular services and protection in third countries, and visa-free entries to 72 countries.

  Instead, the Special Administration Region (SAR) passport will issue you with its own SAR passport which will not be as widely recognised overseas as the BDTC or BN(O).

  In terms of nationality, you will be a Chinese national. But if you were born and bred in Hongkong and, are by race a non-ethnic Chinese, officially, you will be ''stateless''. You hold no foreign passport and your ethnicity prevents you from becoming a Chinese national.

  This is what is at stake if Hongkongers have to surrender their ''British passports'' from as early as this summer, if the new passport conversion scheme is to go ahead.

  And that is why a Legislative Council delegation is in London this week to lobby the British Government.

  Under the phased application programme, proposed by the British Government, the Hongkong public must exchange their BDTC passports for the new BN(O) in phases.

  Eligible BN(O) applicants will be divided into 10 age groups and each will have a separate application deadline over the next three years.

  Should BDTC passport-holders fail to do so before the deadline, they will simply lose their right to register for BN(O) documents. Considerations will only be given to late applicants under ''special circumstances'' with ''reasonable excuses''.

  The exercise, according to the Immigration Department, is to avoid a last-minute rush for the BN(O) passports just before June 30, 1997.

  But given that the Sino-British Joint Declaration clearly states that Hongkong people can switch to BN(O) passports any time before 1997, it is not hard to understand why the general reaction to the programme from politicians and human rights groups alike was one of outrage and hostility.

 ANGRY Legco members said the planned scheme did not reach Legco until a Hongkong Government official made a chance remark at a meeting of the Legco Nationality Sub-Committee in March.

  It was then revealed that the Executive Council had advised the Governor last December that a phased programme with ''cut-off dates'' must be initiated.

    The four-member Legco delegation is in London to lobby for full British citizenship for Hongkong's non-Chinese ethnic minorities. But also on the top of their agenda is to raise objections to the conversion programme.

  According to the British Foreign Office minister with special responsibility for Hongkong, Alastair Goodlad, the draft order will not be tabled in the British Parliament until members have met the Legco delegation.

  Independent legislator Emily Lau Wai-hing, one of the delegates and also convenor of the nationality sub-committee, said her mission to London was not to delay the proposal but to ask the British Government to shelve the scheme altogether.

  ''We have talked with British Government officials as well as Members of Parliament in the past asking them not to enact laws which may deprive the Hongkong people's right to apply for BN(O) passports,'' she said.

  ''We feel that this right should be maintained until the Chinese takeover. We also feel very strongly that the British Parliament should not enact laws which force the Hongkong people to exchange [their passports] earlier, and that if they have missed the deadline, for whatever reasons, they should not lose their right altogether.

  ''We believe that there are alternative measures to encourage the public to switch its passport but it is wrong to deprive people of their right.''   Together with fellow legislators including James To Kun-sun, Ronald Arculli and Simon Ip Sik-on, the delegation will meet senior officials including Mr Goodlad, Lady Thatcher, the former British prime minister, and Lord Howe, the former foreign secretary.

  While Miss Lau said the delegation will ask Lady Thatcher for her support, Mr Arculli believes she is ''at least someone who is historically very sympathetic to Hongkong in terms of nationality issues''.

  As for Lord Howe, Miss Lau said: ''He understands Hongkong affairs very well, and if he has the time I think it is necessary to talk to him.

  ''It is important that we talk to officials from both the Upper and Lower House [of Parliament] as a Bill must pass through the two Houses.''   Unfortunately, the delegation will not have a chance to meet the British Foreign Secretary, Douglas Hurd. He is out of the country.

 BUT according to three Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood delegates who met him last month over the same issue, Mr Hurd said he would refer the matter to the British Home Office for further discussion.

  At present, half the territory's six million population are entitled to BN(O) nationality status, but only 400,000 people have applied and been granted the travel document since its introduction in 1987. Some 1.7 million Hongkongers still hold a BDTC passport.

  It appears that the public knows little about the similarities and difference between a BN(O) and BDTC passport, and perhaps it is this very uncertainty which makes them want to hang on to their BDTC passports.

  Neither a BDTC nor a BN(O) confers its holder the right of abode in Britain. BN(O) status cannot be passed on to one's offspring.

    Are there other differences between the two travel documents which the public does not know about?   ''I don't think we are wholly satisfied that they are 100 per cent identical . . . we will know the answer hopefully when we get the advice [from the British legal experts],'' Mr Arculli said.

  ''I think that coupled with the way in which the 'cut-off scheme' was actually brought forward, [the switch] certainly created, to say the least, suspicion if not quite a large amount of dissatisfaction.''   And United Democrat James To added: ''If the legal advice we receive in the future shows that there are differences between BDTC and BN(O) passports, relating to its right of residence and overseas recognition, we would look into these matters very closely.'' 



Question of loyalties in passport wrangle