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SCMP Reporter

EMIGRATION statistics provided by foreign consulates in Hong Kong will be used in reallocating spare places in the final phase of the British Nationality Selection Scheme.

  Only about half the quota of 13,160 has been filled, but with less than two weeks to the final application deadline, the Government remains confident there will be few, if any, sections which will be under-subscribed.

  The Deputy Secretary for Security, Keith Kwok Ka-keung, said the fairest system was to study details on the most popular employment groups applying to emigrate and couple them with the ratio of applications in the first phase.

  He also issued an assurance to any applicants concerned that they could face discrimination after 1997.

  ''I guarantee that no records on the scheme will be passed to the future Special Administrative Region government,'' Mr Kwok said.

  In the first phase, which ended on January 1, almost 40,000 applications were registered, with only two sections - police and managers - under-subscribed.

  Mr Kwok said the under-subscription of managers had been puzzling because it was an area that was massively subscribed to by people wishing to emigrate.

  ''We think it is a combination of many managers not realising they were qualified to apply for the scheme and a case of them not necessarily wanting to go to Britain,'' he said.

  Mr Kwok said about 40 per cent of people applying to emigrate were managers but the level of those applying for the scheme was much lower.

  He said about 90 per cent of people applying to emigrate were seeking to move to Australia, the United States or Canada.

  The scheme was introduced in 1990 in a bid to stop the ''brain drain'' of experienced professionals emigrating amid the uncertainty of 1997.

  The number of people emigrating last year dropped to about 54,000 compared to about 66,000 for 1992.

  ''People joining the scheme are people who simply want the assurance of a second passport if the going gets rough after 1997,'' Mr Kwok said.

  ''The insurance policy aspect of being registered with the scheme means that unless they need to use it, the British passport won't change these peoples lives - they will just have a back door if they need it.''   Mr Kwok acknowledged that police officers may have been an under-subscribed section during phase one because there was a misconception that it was only a scheme for the elite.

  ''This time around the police officers and managers alike are subscribing at a similar rate to all the other sections,'' he said.

    The scheme had been successful in keeping people in the territory.

  ''The number of people leaving has levelled out and that is also probably due in part to destination countries reducing their intake of people in recent years.''   For this year, Mr Kwok expects about 55,000 people will emigrate. Australia in particular has grown in popularity as its economy has started to improve.

  As of Wednesday, a total of 6,354 scheme applications had been received. The deadline for applications in the final phase is March 31.



Bid to fill places in nationality scheme