Immigration

[Bear Lau]

I was born in HK but hold an Australian passport and my husband is an American. My baby born last year in HK.

happymebaby, you are right, both America and China DON'T allow dual citizenship. That means "theoratically" your baby have to give up his British citizenship to obtain a "hui xiang jing". But, my baby have American, Australian passport/citizenship together with "hui xiang jing", HKSAR passport and HK ID card. I think more important is wheather you or your husband have Chinese citizenship.

 

[LLL_Sarah]

It may not be Chinese law but this is the way I view my children?s citizenship. My children are British citizens as a birth right because I was born in England and my British. Likewise my children have Hong Kong citizenship as a birth right because their father was born in Hong Kong and has Hong Kong citizenship. Their father is also of Chinese origin (his parents were born on the mainland) so as a birth right my children also can have a "hui xiang jing".

My children didn?t ask for all these citizenships they were given them because were born to parents with these citizenships. Thus I think it unfair to ask them to give one up just because one country doesn?t want to allow dual nationality. With this view I was fine collecting all the different passports for my children and not mentioning that they had other passports (and I do realise that this could be technically against the law!)

When we applied for the Chinese "hui xiang jing" I didn?t go only my husband took the children. No one in the office there asked if my children had another nationality and my husband didn?t volunteer the information. When you volunteer information people always seem to get upset with you so we?ve learnt not to.

Contrast this with my brother?s wife, who is also Chinese from Hong Kong. She left Hong Kong to settle in England with my brother. After three years she applied and was granted for British citizenship. Once she had her British passport the Chinese government wouldn?t let her travel to China on her "hui xiang jing". They knew that something was wrong because her HKID card had run out. So she was forced to buy a visa and travel to China on her UK passport. I?m OK with this because my sister-in-law made a conscious decision to apply for the UK citizenship and thus put her Chinese citizenship in jeopardy.

I realise that the law may not see things exactly as I do. But it seems to me that the Chinese officials don?t really understand the Chinese law because every time I hear of someone applying for a "hui xiang jing" different rules apply. (I know one boy who was given one with a UK passport as a travel document.)

But now to answer your question. My son who was born in the UK applied for a SAR passport in February 1998. He already had a "hui xiang jing" at this time because he had a Hong Kong re-entry permit (a document which pre-dates the SAR passport).

Hope this helps,
SARAH

 

[Bear Lau]

Sarah,
Just a matter of interest, what means by "HKID card had run out" ? I thought there is no expiry date for HKID card.

 

[LLL_Sarah]

While it is true that the HKID cards don?t have an expiry date, the government keeps changing the style of them; so far I?ve had three different styles of ID card. If you don?t get the new style at the right time then they are considered out of date. My sister-in-law was living in England when she should have changed her ID card and so had problems when she tried to use it.

 

[Bear Lau]

Thanks. Sarah, that's true.

 

[happymebaby]

Thank you Sarah and Bear Lau for the info!