Little bird
Registered User
My son is 4 months now. I hold Australian passport and my husband Canadian. I would like to apply a passport for my son now. Any advice please?
Passports - Australian, Canadian - any advice?
- Thread starter Little bird
- Start date
nicolejoy
Registered User
You need to get citizenship first before you apply for a passport. My husband and I are both Australian and baby has an Australian passport. She's eligible for a HK passport but I don't want her to have one just now because neither hubby nor I have one. (he was born here, but renounced Chinese nationality, so he's a HK permanent resident still, but doesn't have the 3 stars on his ID card).
My opinion is, it's probably best to use the same country passport as the person who the bub is travelling with - usually the mother - just for simplicity. You could get both passports (dual citizenship) if Canada/Australia allow that, I dunno the rules there...
It's a fairly simple process though. For Australian passport, you need to go first to apply for citizenship by descent, then when that comes back, you can go straight to get the passport (but you have to wait to get the citizenship form first).
If you're a HK resident, you need to get some kind of right of abode sticker in the foreign passport, since they don't get ID cards until they're 11...
My opinion is, it's probably best to use the same country passport as the person who the bub is travelling with - usually the mother - just for simplicity. You could get both passports (dual citizenship) if Canada/Australia allow that, I dunno the rules there...
It's a fairly simple process though. For Australian passport, you need to go first to apply for citizenship by descent, then when that comes back, you can go straight to get the passport (but you have to wait to get the citizenship form first).
If you're a HK resident, you need to get some kind of right of abode sticker in the foreign passport, since they don't get ID cards until they're 11...
Little bird
Registered User
thanks Nicolejoy. re abode sticker, i thought my baby's full HK birth certificate will do?
Shenzhennifer
Registered User
If you want a Canadian one, you also have to apply for citizenship first. It takes 14 months. You can apply for a passport at the same time but you would need to renew it after a year; otherwise wait until you have the citizenship card to apply for a passport, which would be good for 5 years.
adelaidejax
Registered User
nicolejoy
how long did it take to all up to apply/process babys citizenship and passport?
how long did it take to all up to apply/process babys citizenship and passport?
karmah1
Registered User
We had to apply for an Australian Citizenship and Passport for our son before we left Hong Kong. The Citizenship certificate took 2 weeks, we picked that up and on the same day submitted the passport application which took just over 2 weeks. Before we left we had to get the right of abode sticker stamped in our sons passport at HK immigration, that took a couple of hours.
adelaidejax
Registered User
hi karmah1, so we should allow the usual check in airport time plus extra couple of hours for baby to get the sticker at immigration as well.
I think the sticker is done at the immigration department isn't it? not the airport immigration.
Also - our daughter is eligible for a HK passport (for some random reason even though neither of us are from HK) and they said she will be given her own HK ID card when the passport is ready next week.
I'm pretty sure you can have dual Canadian / Australian citizneship, just have to apply for citizenship by descent at relevant High Commissions.
Also - our daughter is eligible for a HK passport (for some random reason even though neither of us are from HK) and they said she will be given her own HK ID card when the passport is ready next week.
I'm pretty sure you can have dual Canadian / Australian citizneship, just have to apply for citizenship by descent at relevant High Commissions.
karmah1
Registered User
Sorry if I wasn't clear enough, we got the sticker when we registered the birth of our son. Once we recieved the Australian passport we took both to the Immigration Department in Wan Chai to get the sticker stamped into the passport. You need to do all this before you get to the airport.
You might want to check with either the Births Registry or Immigration department for further information..
The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region - Immigration Department
GovHK: Registration of a Birth
You might want to check with either the Births Registry or Immigration department for further information..
The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region - Immigration Department
GovHK: Registration of a Birth
Hi little bird, I am Canadian and I just had my baby boy in June...anyways in July I had to get the ball moving for my little one for passport and citizenship because we want to take him home to see family, anyways I advise you to do it ASAP....you have to appy for citizenship first before passport, it will take 14 months to get it thats why I said to do it ASAP...now heres the thing you cant get the passport without the citizenship but there is a way around that....what we did was apply for an emergency passport and you can get that in about 2 weeks....but you have to have a good reason like bringing baby home to see family, but they require proof so you need to have the plane tickets to show them or it wont work...another reason (which is what we used) we said that my hubby's work needed the passport so we could get my babys Visa to stay in the country (which was true) you need proof for that also, and we had a letter from the visa office saying that is what we needed to legally keep our baby in Hong Kong and to get the Visa...Also keep in mind that you will need to get done baby passport photos and citizenship photos for the Canadian Consulate. I went to the office which is by IFC mall and first apply for the citizenship and then right after that APPyied for the passport, have all forms ready and filled out before you go with the pics....
PS dont forget that for baby passport form you need the witness and it has to be Canadian that knows you (and it has to be a doctor/police officer etc) we didnt know any canadians in Hong Kong , especially in that kind of work feild so we had to request a special form at the consulate office (you cant get that form online) and they make you fill it in there before you leave so have 2 Canadian friends contact details to use as references ..they will call them.
the web address for the forms is Welcome Page | Page d'accueil and all the info is there also..
please note that once you receive the citizenship you need to re apply for a new passport.I hope this helps
from Chrssy
PS dont forget that for baby passport form you need the witness and it has to be Canadian that knows you (and it has to be a doctor/police officer etc) we didnt know any canadians in Hong Kong , especially in that kind of work feild so we had to request a special form at the consulate office (you cant get that form online) and they make you fill it in there before you leave so have 2 Canadian friends contact details to use as references ..they will call them.
the web address for the forms is Welcome Page | Page d'accueil and all the info is there also..
please note that once you receive the citizenship you need to re apply for a new passport.I hope this helps
from Chrssy