British nationality law and Hong Kong the wording of "British Dependent Territories" with "British Overseas Territories" in "British Nationality Act, 1981" among other new provisions, further clarification was made even though this act did not even apply to Hong Kong. Section 14 of the subsequent "Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act, 2002", stated specifically that a person may not be registered as a British Overseas Territories Citizen (BOTC) by virtue of a connection with Hong Kong. A small group of Hong Kong ethnic minorities had not been eligible for acquiring British citizenship under the "British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act, 1997" because they were not ordinarily resident in
British nationality law and Hong Kong on or after 1983 to a parent settled in Hong Kong are BDTCs. The law also stated that British Citizens or BDTCs by descent could not automatically pass on British nationality to a child born outside the United Kingdom or the dependent territories concerned unless a parent acquired citizenship otherwise than by descent. Negotiation concerning the future of Hong Kong started in the late 1970s between Britain and China. With the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration on 19 December 1984, the future of Hong Kong was set, with China to assume sovereignty of the entire territory of Hong Kong