Posted by
mayafox
18 yrs ago
Do babies need their own HKID card to leave / return to HK? Are there any other documents we need to bring for our 6-month-old other than a valid passport?
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pzam
18 yrs ago
I've traveled with my daughter several times and have never had a problem not having an HKID for her. She will turn 3 in February. Just a valid passport is fine. Just make sure that she has the correct visa in her passport if she's not a HK citizen.
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Thanks pzam. our boy will be travelling on a British passport, but we haven't got a visa for HK because he was born here and supposedly has right abode. I just wonder how the immigration department would know that he is an HK resident if he doesn't have an ID card? Would it suffice that my husband and I have the right landing documents?
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kar
18 yrs ago
Just being born in HK does not equal right of abode. If the parents have right of abode, then a child that is born here will also have it. But you'll need a visa from Immigration in their passport. My daughter has right of abode, but my son does not as he was born in the US due to SARS. Once he's been here 7 years, then we can apply for him as well.
In any case, it would be best to check with Immigration so that your son doesn't have to reenter Hong Kong on a visitor's visa.
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And what happens when that passport expires? Can you just piggyback it on to the new one, or do you have to get a new endorsement?
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pzam
18 yrs ago
I don't know with endorsements but from my experience, the Immigration Dept will not issue an visa on your passport past the validity of the passport so you'll really have to get one. If the endorsement has a validity date then you'd probably need to get a new one with each renewal of passport.
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kar
18 yrs ago
You can get the endorsement transferred. It's quick and easy to do (although you do need to go back to Immigration or appoint someone else to do it).
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MC
18 yrs ago
Personal experience: If your child does not have a HKID, then you need to have the passport endorsed by the immigration dept. as mentioned by the above posts. Assuming your child holds a passport that does not require entry visas, then you can just come in as a tourist and then apply for that endorsement at a later date. I did that myself when I switched passports. No problem at all.
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miffy
18 yrs ago
Sorry to hijack the thread, but on that point, does a baby born in HK to non-PR parents have any right of abode or anything? Or is he/she just a dependent until he/she has been here 7 years?
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:-))
18 yrs ago
If either parent is PR, don't rely on the birth cert, do get the endorsement in your passport. We travelled first time without the endorsement, and even with the ORIGINAL birth cert, spent a long time in immigration because, believe it or not, immigration officials don't recognise the validity of HK birth certs because it's from a separate government department! So the immigration officers were at a loss as to what limit of stay to stamp in baby's passport on arrival. They will let us through eventually but hanging around in immigration longer than necessary is the last thing you want to do after a long flight.
The endorsement can be got relatively quickly if you give them a travel deadline. I sent in a form downloaded from the website, and then only had about an hour to spend at immigration.
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kar: do we need any other supporting documents apart from the old and new passports? how long does it take? and what's the fee?
thanks.
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Thanks for all your advice. I *finally* got through to the immigration department on the phone and they advise the following traveling options for a baby born in HK with right of abode:
1) You can apply for a HKSAR passport, which also serves as an identity card for a child under the age of 11. This allows the baby to exit and enter Hong Kong as a Permanent Resident and works the same way as an adult PR ID card;
2) You can submit a ROP-145 form, which applies for Permanent Residency, and if this is granted, you will receive an endorsement sticker for the baby's foreign passport; and
3) If Permanent Residence is not in question and you have to travel on short notice, it is possible to bring the baby's HK birth certificate. To determine whether this applies, check baby's birth certificate: If it says 'Established' under the 'Status of Permanent Resident' column, then the baby has ROA.
For us, the best course of action is to get bubs a SAR passport for exiting and entering HK. He is lucky enough to be eligible for multiple nationalities and this way, he would not be restricted to using just one endorsed passport.
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kar
18 yrs ago
Last time I had the endorsement transferred was a couple of years ago...from what I recall it only involved the old and new passports, a one sheet form (Transfer of Endorsement) and it was relatively cheap. Less than $HK 200. It took about an hour. Basically had to queue up, drop off form and passports, and turn up an hour later to pay and collect the passports.
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Totty
18 yrs ago
I'm with you on that one waffle hk, i was always under the impression that your child could only have right of abode if they were of chinese origin and themselves had right of abode. I don't believe westerners (or any other expats) with permanent residency are able to get their children right of abode.
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Thanks for all your help. Immigration issues are always so complicated for us because we are a veritable family of mongrels! Between me and my husband, we have English, Canadian, Australian and Chinese blood. Luckily it works out that our little boy is eligable for all four nationalities, albeit sometimes tenuously. Spent most of my pregnancy consulting all the different consulates to find out where we stand!
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