Does it matter which travel documents I apply for first for my baby?

C

chrischen377

Registered User
I'm Canadian and my wife is a Chinese National. Our baby was born in HK.

I want to apply for my baby's HKID, HK passport, Home Return Permit, and Canadian Passport. Does it matter if I apply for the Canadian one first before the HK one or vice-versa?

Also, is my baby automatically Canadian through me or do I have to apply for it?

Thanks.
 
apply for them all at the same time. get all the paper work done in one go. it's easiest that way. that's what i did. for the canadian passport, you first need to get a canadian citizenship card and that takes 15-18 MONTHS yes, MONTHS and NOT weeks like what I thought. only after that can you apply for the canadian passport...unless you have a valid reason for a canadian passport, e.g. you are travelling and must use your canadian passport.

the HKSAR passport will be issued within 2 weeks. with this you can get the home return permit very easily within a week.

if you calculate, time wise, it would not be very ideal to do the canadian first than HKSAR passport cause you waste a lot of time. also, the canadian allows dual citizenship whilst the HKSAR does not so if you do it the wrong way around then you'd like to lie on your application whereas if you do it at the same time, no lieing is involved.

also, for the canadian government, you will get a letter that states that your child's children will no longer automatically become canadian citizens because of their status as a canadian. this is the last generation that is given this privelege.

best
 
i submitted the application for a canadian passport for my daughter when she was about 2 weeks old as i took her to canada when she was 5 weeks.

they will issue a passport without any problem before you receive the citizenship card, but the passport is only valid for a year. once you have the card, then you take the passport in and they will extend it for a further 2 years.

leslie, when did you get a letter from the canadian gov't? my two kids didn't get one of those! they were born 2005 & 2007.
 
Actually we applied for my son's Cdn citizenship card right away but delayed applying for his CDN passport as we were going to apply for his HK ppt at the same time and he can travel on either CDN or HK ppt pretty much anywhere.

I then applied for his CDN ppt after receiving his CDN citizenship card so he got the full 5 yr ppt. This way I save paying for that first CDN ppt which would only have lasted 1-2 years at most anyway.
 
Regarding Cdn citizenship card processing, the current wait time seems to be shorter, generally under one year. (But back in 2008, it was definitely much longer.)

Btw, it's also not a "card" anymore but a piece of paper (like a certificate). They changed it a few months ago.
 
Thanks for all the helpful information. :)

Do I need to bring my baby with me to apply for a Canadian Citizenship card and Passport? I heard you have to bring the baby with you when applying for the HK documents but not sure about the Canadian ones.
 
Also, do I need a guarantor to sign the back of the photo? Would that mean I would have to send the photo back to my family doctor/dentist back in Canada to sign?
 
yes, you do....

no, you do not need to send them to canada... you can get them done here in hk. a lawyer (brit) neighbour of ours does it for us.
 
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