Posted by
alvineki
18 yrs ago
If my wife gives birth in HK, will our baby get to be a HK Citizen/Resident by choice? Can anyone shed some light?
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We are both Singaporeans based in GZ and going back to Singapore is too tedious and I have a heavy work load.
Tried looking at HK immi but doesn't seemed to say anything..
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No..I don't have a HKID. And I just found out this is not possible. So, thank you all!
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Just to share my experience...
I'm an ethically Chinese holder of HKID (foreign passport holder). My children born in Hong Kong are eligible for right of abode but I must apply for this and prove my Chinese ethnicity (I showed my parents' old Taiwan passports and my birth certificate proving I am their child). So, though I am not a "Chinese citizen", my children were able to get PR because I am ethnically Chinese.
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Exeter, you ARE ethnically chinese albeit from Taiwan, your only barrier to chinese citizenship unders the auspices of HKSAR in a political one. Bad luck unfortunately.
I am ethnically British, born and raised in HK and a PID holder. However, I will never enjoy the rights that HK Chinese have as I am not 'ethnically chinese' ie. free passage in and out of China etc. My complaint lies with the mainland chinese govt. who are spectacularly narrow-minded, not HK.
That said, my child will have the right of abode once born.
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HK must be the only developed country that still overtly uses skin colour to decide right of abode. This has frustrated me over the years on many levels, and now that I am pregnant, I find it particularly confusing to decipher where this leaves my child.
I am ethnically Chinese, but born overseas, so my right of abode is based on my ethnically Chinese parents and that I grew up in Hong Kong. My husband, who is ethnically British, has only been in HK for five years, so he is just here based on his work visa. So where does that leave our baby? Will our child be considered Chinese or non-Chinese? Does this affect whether he or she will have automatic right of abode? My research says that because our baby will be born in HK, to an ethnically Chinese mother with permanent residency, he or she SHOULD be eligible automatically, but if anybody else has a different experience, please let me know.
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Mayafox - I quite agree. For such a wonderful city, the bureaucracy here is blatantly racist!
Fortunately your child will have right of abode regardless of your husband's race. Good luck with your pregnancy!
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Hi Vulvic,
Good luck with your pregnancy too!
My husband doesn't know whether to be happy that our child will have right of abode because I am Chinese or infuriated that his own status has no impact whatesoever -- And don't even get us started on the horror stories our Indian friends have had with the status of their HK-born children...
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Of course, the Indian, Pakistani and Filipino families are really discriminated against. It's appaling.
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TC1
18 yrs ago
Be careful even when your child get PR status. Some restrictions may apply. I was not born in HK (both parents are chinese & my father was born in HK) but lived in HK for my whole life. Also have a SAR passport myself. I just realize that I cannot leave HK for more than 3 years or they will remove my citizenship. I find it absolutely crazy.
And my friend (who was Chinese born & raised inHK married a Norwegian & now living in London) ask the immigration officer if her baby can get HK citizenship in case she give birth in London. The answer actually is "no" as the baby should follow his/her father citizenship.
Mayafox - IF I were you, I would have called immigration & asked. I am actually trying to get my little girl a HK passport (she was born in Canada but father is not Chinese). It seems very difficult.
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TC1
18 yrs ago
Also just to answer Waffle hk question about chinese citizen. They are very strict about it. It means your parents have to be ethnic chinese. Like my mom, she was not born in HK & even though she married my father, they don't consider her chinese as my grandfathers left china many years ago & never went back to live there(travelling doesn't count). So, my mom is not consider to be ethnic chinese & hence, she cannot get SAR passport. Or, she can give up the passport she has now & tried to be a Chinese citizen. However, there is no gurantee & we think it's too risky for her without any travel documents.
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TC1 - that's terrible. I had no idea that HK were turning away their own nationals and denying them citizenship. For a city that has so many expats living here, they don't seem to appreciate that their own national citizens also have the right to be expats and return home like everyone else.
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Hi TC1,
I totally understand your frustration -- my family is all over the place too, which makes it even harder to navigate an already complicated system. Like you, I was not born in HK, and only one of my (ethnically Chinese) parents was. Both my parents grew up in HK and moved away in their 20s, returning to HK when I was about 2 years old.
When I left HK to live abroad 10 years ago, I checked with immigration whether there were any restrictions to my right of abode but apparently, because I have an ‘A’ prefix and three stars on my ID card, I do not have to return to HK every three years like my other non-HK born friends who were in the same situation. I didn’t question how I got the three stars, but I always thought it was because my parents got an endorsement of permanent residence on my passport as soon as I returned to HK as a baby and because I had lived here all my life (and perhaps the ‘return every three years’ law had not been passed yet?). I also have an SAR passport and a PRC ‘Going Home Certificate’.
I spoke to immigration again when we were trying to decide where our baby should be born and they assured me that my child would be eligible for permanent residency because he / she will be born in HK to at least one ethnically Chinese permanent resident (they actually said that my husband could be from Mars for all he mattered!). I know that if my child was born outside HK, he / she would not be eligible for permanent residency and that was one of the reasons we decided to give birth here instead of in the UK where my husband is from.
That said, I am definitely not going to make any assumptions that we have it all figured out, especially when the system is sometimes based on questions as arbitrary as “Were you in Hong Kong at the time of the handover?” I am consulting a friend who is an immigration lawyer and will be sure to mention that you are in the same situation as me and yet still have to check in every three years. I’ll post again if I hear anything useful.
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clam
18 yrs ago
Mayafox, agree that all is confusing. And the handover appears as some sort of benchmark for timing. I am not HK born (both my parents are and emigrated before I was born, returning to HK in retirement after over 30 yrs). I only hold a non-HK passport but obtained my PR before the handover and was even able to get a China "Home" Visa ID about 2 years ago (not allowed for non-HK born now). My sister who applied for PR 2 years ago (she's also not HK born) was rejected and given the status "RTL" (right to land) on her HKID. We/our parents were at exactly the same staus at birth but go figure. Immigration explained that this gives her PR privileges (i.e. can live, work without visa etc in HK) but she can be 'deported' if she commited a crime or was considered a national threat, whereas a proper PR can not be deported for any reason.
Hope that helps.
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Clam, you are right -- sometimes it is just down to timing, or dealing with a sympathetic official. Very typical Hong Kong!
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TC1
18 yrs ago
Mayafox - I believe we are in the same boat. I also have 3 stars in my ID card & SAR passport. I only found out about this 3 years thing when I got back to HK this time after 2.5 years. Never heard of it before so I guess it's something new after 1997. I am gald I did come back in 1997 for the handover ( I was in the UK back then). Now that I read their website, they do mention a lot about the handover. May be that is something important?
I don't have high hope to get my daughter HK citizenship as she was not born in HK though I really want to get it for her. Will try again next year when I go to HK with her.
As for your kid, I think it's a smart move if he/she is born in HK to save some hassle. Anyway, he/she will be able to get the UK citizenship automatically. But then, your grandchildren will not automatically get UK citizenship since your child is not born in the UK. The law may change by that time so let's just get your kid the HK citizenship first.
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Hi TC1,
You must have gone through the same (long, drawn out) thought process we did when planning where to give birth! I guess the truth is that we are lucky to have so much choice. Who knows where my grandchildren will be born or where they want to live? At least if my child is a UK citizen then he / she can make the decision whether to give birth in the UK or elsewhere. That's probably as far as we can feasibly plan!
I don't know much about how to get an SAR passport, but I know that I got mine very easily in spite of being born in Canada. But then like you I did grow up here. I imagine that it is harder when your daughter does not live in HK. Good luck!
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Blossom, I have so many friends who are in the same situation as you. The law might as well say you can pour all your money into the city to bring up your child but once he is old enough to earn it back, they will make life as difficult for him as possible.It is just an outrage.
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cd
18 yrs ago
2 of my children were born in HK, they were entitled to nothing as we are not SAR passport holders. Being born here doesn't give you any rights automatically. However they got their PR status at age 3 and 5 as that is when we the parents got ours.
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fala
11 yrs ago
Hi.. Im resident of indonesia and my fiance is hk resident can and i'm pregnant 7 month can i possibly give birth in hk?
thanks a lot for help to this question
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