American Passport/Registration for baby

[Obiwan]

After much thought, we got our baby a HK SAR passport, as we would like to leave the option of citizenship open for her until she is 18 and can decide if she would like to be an American.

Couple of questions, would appreciate advice/thoughts.

1. Can we also apply for an American passport for her now? Would that mean that she would have elected to be an American, or does she still have the option to elect when she's 18? If she can hold both passports, it would be ideal, cos currently she is holding a different passport from us.

2. Do we need to notify her birth or register her with the American Embassy in any case?

Thanks!

 

[gladyswly]

My husband is American while I am a local, our baby girl was born in HK. We got her both American and Hong Kong passports. I think there is a time frame that you need to notify the US Embassy about the birth of your child, you can read the US Embassy webpage for more information. Better to do it sooner than later, there are alot of forms to fill out and the procedure is really a pain!! (Would never do it if my husband is not American, because don't know what good does it do to my girl being an American, no national health system, gun shoots everywhere, high unemployment rate and country in great debt..) But holding 2 passports can leave her more opportunities later in life whatever she wants to do/wherever she wants to go, plus it's a lot easier to go thru customs when we go back to the US to visit the grandparents.

 

[Obiwan]

Thanks gladyswly, we are in the same situation.

Now that you girl has both passports, does she still have the option to decide on her citizenship at 18, or would she have elected to be an American now given that she has got the American passport?

 

[bubi]

My husband is an American and i am from Philippines but our baby will be HK born. Can i still get her a HK passport & American passport? I just wonder if she could have these just for her future opportunities.. Thanks in advance...

 

[Obiwan]

Hi Bubi, for HK SAR passport, you will need to show that either of the parent (or grandparents) is a Chinese national. In our case, both of us did not qualify, but my husband's father is a Shanghainese (eventhough he is now an American citizen too).

 

[gladyswly]

Obiwan, for instance and to my knowledge, now that my baby has both HK and US passport, she owns citizenships of both places, is it not? She has her own Report of Birth and Social Security Number from the US and birth certificate from HK. I know US gov only let you hold one citizenship but HK gov doesnt care if you own 10, so far we don't have problem from the US gov, and I don't think she will have to choose even she reaches the age of 18. Correct me if I am wrong, need to prepare for that!

 

[Obiwan]

From our experience, HK govt does not allow dual citizenship. i.e. We have to give up American Citizenship to be able to get a HK SAR passport. For our baby, as she was born here, we were able to get her HK SAR passport (with the grandfather's Chinese lineage). Now that she has her HKSAR passport, we can get her the American passport as well. We haven't done that cos we are checking to see if by doing so, she will then have chosen to be an American, and will lose her option to elect her citizenship at a later stage. We would prefer to preserve that option at the current moment. If she doesn't lose the option, then it would be better for her to hold 2 passports now.

 

[Ma Ma Ape]

Only us citizens can apply for us passports. so in essense u are choosing to be an American. However, Hk government has no authority over citizenship, Chinese government does. so with a Hk sar passport, she is essentially Chinese. But how will she know if she wants to be American or not without living there? She will need a visa to go to the US!

 

[Obiwan]

Yes, she will need a visa to travel to America on the HKSAR passport, that is why we are thinking to get her the American passport now. She is a baby so clearly she wouldn't know if she wants to be American at this age, but we are American so it makes sense for us to consider this.

 

[MommyTo3]

My children were born in the US so have US passports while we don't, since we're EU citizens. Currently they hold both. Our home country is a little weird about 2 passports especially if you haven't lived there for 5 years before you're 18 (which we don't know yet, but hope not). The Americans obviously don't care. Every passport holder 18 yo + (with income, etc.) is a tax payer and the more the merrier, especially these days!