its continuing series before the August 15 referendum, The Royal Gazette looks at citizenship.

Bermudians -- whether by birth or grant -- would have an automatic right to citizenship if Bemruda became Independent.

But others would also be able to seek citzenship, according to Government's position papers.

Minister of Labour and Home Affairs the Hon. Irving Pearman said the topic of citizenship is probably one of the most complex questions an independent country must deal with.

"Today all Bermudians are status Bermudians by birth or by grant. At Independence all of those persons will automatically become citizens and the word status would cease to exist,'' Mr. Pearman said.

"There would be two types of citizens and they would follow much the same as the British Nationality Act 1991 does where you have citizens by descent and otherwise than by descent.

"Those persons by descent can pass on their citizenship to their children and for those otherwise by descent there is a limit to their passing on the right of citizenship to their descendants,'' he said. He also felt each individual case had to be looked at on its own merits.

"Bermuda proposes in the discussion papers that any person that had been resident in Bermuda for 20 or more years who does not have status at this point in time (while Bermuda is a dependent territory) would be eligible to apply in one year after Independence,'' Mr. Pearman said.

"The Government also proposes, in its Position Papers, to make provisions in the Nationality Act to grant citizenship to persons who Bermuda feels would be an asset to Bermuda.'' The Position paper states that a parent who is a citizen by descent can only pass on his or her citizenship to a child -- who was born or adopted in Bermuda, or who was born abroad at a time when the parent was in Bermuda Government service overseas in the country of the child's birth, having been recruited for that service in Bermuda.

The child is automatically, from birth, a citizen otherwise than by descent if he or she is born in Bermuda of a parent who is a Bermudian citizen; or born abroad to a Bermudian citizen in Bermuda Government service in the country of the child's birth, having been recruited for that service in Bermuda.

The paper also maintains that "putting all these concepts and principles together, should the people of Bermuda vote in favour of Independence at the referendum, the Bermudian citizenship law would define exactly who would become citizens automatically, who would become citizens by right and who could become citizens by discretionary grant.'' The Position Papers focused on two opposing principles dealing with citizenship the first being to ensure that Bermuda citizenship should not be so easy to acquire as to unduly disadvantage Bermudians. And the second is to ensure that all people are treated fairly.

"If citizenship laws were too restrictive, it would run roughshod over the legitimate aspirations of people who have lived here and have an expectation of becoming Bermudians or of being able to transmit their Bermudian citizenship to their children,'' the paper states.

On the issue of the transmission of citizenship the Position Papers maintain that the citizens of any country do not want to be overwhelmed by people from overseas who have no close ties to the country, claiming citizenship and demanding jobs and housing.

"To prevent overcrowding, there must be a mechanism in Bermuda, as in many other countries, to prevent the automatic transmission of citizenship indefinitely to generation after generation born outside Bermuda,'' the paper says.

With common law domicile, the Bermudian status laws limit the transmission of Bermudian status to children born abroad by requiring that, at the time of the child's birth, the Bermudian parent must be domiciled in Bermuda under British common law.

Those who would become Bermudian citizens automatically at Independence would be everyone who possessed Bermudian status, other than by descent, immediately before Independence Day. This is to ensure that all Bermudians, whether by birth, by right, or by grant, start off at Independence with exactly the same rights.

However, this excludes those people who were only deemed to have Bermudian status by reason of being a wife, or widow, or child under the age of 22 years of a Bermudian.

"Other Commonwealth citizens would not have their citizenship affected by Bermuda becoming Independent. Any such Commonwealth citizen, or any alien not yet naturalised as a British Dependent Territories Citizen, who has an active Bermudian status application on Independence day would have his or her application for Bermudian status treated as an application for Bermudian citizenship,'' the Position Papers said.

In the event of Independence, provision for non-Bermudian long term residents would be made.

Any person who had been ordinarily resident in Bermuda for a least 20 years immediately before Independence Day would be eligible to apply for citizenship of Bermuda.

Such a person would be granted Bermudian citizenship, on application, provided he or she had been of good conduct and character for at least the 10 years immediately preceding his or her application for Bermudian citizenship.

However, any person who qualified as a long term resident on Independence Day would have a year in which to apply to be registered as a Bermudian citizen.

After Independence, people would be able to apply for citizenship either through registration or naturalisation under the Bermuda Nationality Act. This would include people who people were in the process of acquiring Bermudian status before Independence Day.

This would apply to a wife who, if upon application was still married to her Bermudian husband at the time, a widow upon application, and a child upon application if he or she was under the age of 22 and would have been deemed to possess Bermudian status for at least five years had Bermuda not become Independent, and had been ordinarily resident in Bermuda for at least five years on the day of application.

Also eligible are spouses of Bermudians who are of good character and conduct and have been: married to the Bermudian for at least 10 years, and ordinarily resident in Bermuda for the two years immediately before the application for registration, was an ordinary resident in Bermuda for a total of at least seven years in aggregate while married to the Bermudian and living with his or her Bermudian spouse as husband and wife for the two years before the application for registration.

People who will have "a qualifying Bermudian connection'' would also have the right to citizenship.

This would be a person who was born or arrived in Bermuda before his or her sixth birthday, is at least 18-years-old, was ordinarily resident in Bermuda on July 31, 1989 and July 13, 1994 and made his or her application for Bermudian citizenship before August 1, 2003 -- the date when the youngest possible applicant will be 19-years-old and will have had one year's grace in which to apply in which to apply for citizenship.