Posted by
mayafox
18 yrs ago
According to the Canadian Consulate, it can take 6-9 months for bubs' passport to come through -- has anyone had any experience of getting their HK-born baby Canadian Citizenship by descent? Does is really take that long??
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My second one is born in HK. I applied for the citizenship card in February (he's born in Nov)... they told me the citizenship card can take as long as 9 months to 1 year. If I was lucky, I would get it in about 6 months.
I was VERY lucky... got his card in about 5 months time. Applied the passport at the same time, and resubmitted the citizenship card along with proof of my citizenship and my husband's.
It was a pain to get the photos done for both. Very strict... even with babies.
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Thanks ladies! Good to hear that we can get a temp passport to travel on. Was worried that we would be grounded for 9 months...
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Just to be more precise, the temporary passport is actually only good for half a year. B/c most countries require you to have 6 months valid. So, they said if we were travelling, and really needed a passport for the little one, make sure you apply the passport, time it well, and it would be good for only 6 months actually.
Why not apply the HKSAR passport for your baby? It only took 2 weeks for it to be issue. It was much easier than the Cdn Passport. ( If you really need to travel soon.)
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i'm not in hk and i'm not canadian BUT
taking up the point about photo taking...if it's biometric passport, really advise you use your own digicam or videocam and take lots and lots and lots for them to choose from (as per requirements from the relevant authorities). we took our bub's pic at a shop in SG that supposedly specialises in taking pics for int'l passports. but that photo was rejected by the software at the brit high comm. in the end, we swaddled our bub, lay him on a white muslin cloth and took many pics, printed them out and gave them to the high comm to choose...one of them eventually made the cut.
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tmk
18 yrs ago
Similar experience as related earlier. Took about 9 months to get permanent passports for my twins. The holdup was the time it takes to get the Citizenship card. Had limited validity passports issued while waiting for the permanent passports.
Cara,
Think you missed Katetam's point. Yes, the passport is valid for a year, but it is only usable for six months (except if you're going to Canada). Most countries require your passport to be valid for six months or refuse entry, so a one-year passport, in many situation, can't be used six months after issuance. Of course, as you mentioned, it can be extended, but it is still only fully usable up until six months prior to expiry.
tmk
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thanks tmk for clarifying my point. B/c it was only good for 6 months, I thought it was much easier to get the HKSAR passport, b/c the temporary passport for the baby was not discounted in price in anyway.
Photos- Canadian Passport photos are done now at Fotomax. (Finally!).... they stamp it and it's done all correct. However, I don't know if they can do babies, as young babies need to be laid down to do the photo...... and the head size has to be correct, AND the citizenship card photos and the passport photos are NOT the same.
So, Fotomax does it, and so does this bridal photo place in Tsim Sha Tsui called I Do, they do a really good job with the passport photos.
Fotomax is cheaper though.
Hope this helps.
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http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/asia/hongkong/pdf/Photo%20Specifications%20with%20photos.pdf
Well, the guidelines says "NO hat or head coverings permitted..."
So, my son had to lie down on a white background to take the photos. Printed out 3 different ones, one they said the head was tilted a little upwards. The other the eyes were not looking properly into the camera. The last one, the head size was a little too big for their specifications... but the officer said they will try this last one b/c sometimes they will be lenient with babies. If it wasn't a baby, all three photos had to be rejected.
Too bright, too dim, no smiling, eyes, head size proportion to the photo...etc.
To make it worse, when I did get the photos correct, the photographer's stamp got smeared .... not accepted either. So had to reprint, and stamped, and then used separate bags for each photo.
It's so painful to do this in HK every 5 years... wished it was longer validity.... or wish more photographers know what to do.
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Does anyone have any recommendations for a good studio on HK island to get Canadian passport photos for a newborn?
A really helpful guy at the consulate recommended a studio in TST, but that's a bit far to travel just for some pics...
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tmk
18 yrs ago
I've used the photo shop beside World Wide a few times. Location is very close to the consulate, and has been great for pics for me but I didn't find them great with handling baby/toddler photos. Canadian passport specs are very specific, and it can take some work to get the infant pics done correctly. Baby's head and shoulders have to be seen, baby looking forward, eyes open, and cannot have any hands visible propping up the baby.
This shop can be quite busy and lacked patience/time when I took my infant twins for passport pics. In addition, it is an "open" type shop in the alley, and can be very hot and humid or pouring rain while waiting. But of course location is convenient:)
If your baby is old enough to use a Bumbo seat and you have one, bring it. TST is only one MTR stop from Central, so you may want to consider going with the recommendation you have.
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Thanks ladies! I will dig out the shop beside Worldwide House. Any idea what it is called?
Tmk, my baby is just 2 months old, so no bumbo seat (or head control!) yet.
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