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Child born in Hong Kong - Registration & Birth Certificate

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  1. #1

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    Apr 2008
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    Child born in Hong Kong - Registration & Birth Certificate

    Dear all,

    I have a question and I hope someone has an answer to it. Personally, I have a ROA HK ID Card (I have the permanent HK ID Card and HKSAR passport, based on the fact that my parents did not have permanent residency when I was born in '80s in NL). Since I have both the NL and Chinese nationality, my children will only obtain the Chinese nationality (next to the Dutch nationality, as NL permits dual nationality if obtained by birth), if they were born in Hong Kong or China.

    My wife is now pregnant and we have decided to give birth in HK, so our child can get the Chinese nationality next to the Dutch nationality. The only question I have is the following. How exactly is the registration at the HK hospital when our child is born? To be more precise, what will be registered on the birth certificate in terms of nationality of the parents? Becasue I am wondering whether I should be mentioned as Dutch or HK Chinese (technically, I am both). The fear is that when I register as Chinese, the Dutch government might question it and if I register as Dutch, the Chinese government might question. I am not quite sure, but maybe there is no nationality mentioned in a HK birth certificate, but I have never seen one before.

    If someone knows more about it (maybe you just gave birth in HK), I would welcome any suggestion, thanks!


  2. #2

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    If you register the child as Dutch, I imagine that's effectively making a "declaration of change of nationality" for your child, meaning he/she would lose Chinese nationality (which would have been their birthright because you are a Chinese citizen).

    This is probably complicated, you should see how the Dutch nationality law works.

    At least according to Wikipedia
    Dutch nationality law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    Although Dutch law restricts dual citizenship, it is possible for Dutch subjects to legally hold dual citizenship in a number of circumstances, including:

    * those who acquire another citizenship at the time of birth (for example, a child born to Dutch parents in the United States would hold both U.S. and Dutch citizenship).
    * persons who acquire Dutch citizenship through the option procedure (including former Dutch citizens resuming citizenship)
    * persons who become naturalised Dutch subjects, who obtain an exemption from the requirement to renounce their foreign citizenship, such as those married to Dutch subjects.
    * Dutch subjects who naturalise in another country who are exempted from the loss of nationality rule (such as those married to a citizen/subject of that country).
    So in that sense maybe it'll be fine. China could consider the child to be Chinese, the Netherlands considers the child Dutch.

  3. #3

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    From the little I know: If you intend your baby to have the HKSAR passport and you'll apply for him/her (perhaps to later also get a Home Return Permit), when registering your infant at the Birth Registry office, on the form fill in 'Chinese' in the 'Nationality' box (yes, there's a question about that).

    In some cases, heard if you put down any other nationality, that HKSAR passport may not be as easy to obtain (but I'm no way an expert and other issues may come into play, so check with others).


  4. #4

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    Quote Originally Posted by emmie:
    From the little I know: If you intend your baby to have the HKSAR passport and you'll apply for him/her (perhaps to later also get a Home Return Permit), when registering your infant at the Birth Registry office, on the form fill in 'Chinese' in the 'Nationality' box (yes, there's a question about that).

    In some cases, heard if you put down any other nationality, that HKSAR passport may not be as easy to obtain (but I'm no way an expert and other issues may come into play, so check with others).
    Not an issue. Actually they fill in the forms at the registry office not you. All that is shown on the birth certificate is whether PR is established or not.

    For the 2 times I have registered the births of my kids they have put down British as they follow the father! However both have Chinese nationality from birth with passports, ID cards and get you back home quick cards for China.

    When the HKSAR is applied for they just look at the birth cert (which doesn't state a nationality) and the mothers passport / ID / birth cert. In fact exactly the same for the British passports as well except of course my passport / birth cert.

  5. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by jaykay:
    Not an issue. Actually they fill in the forms at the registry office not you...
    Yes, that's right. Good to clarify with your experience.

    And 'nationality' isn't on the full HK birth cert...
    But here, in Canto, they asked specifically - for their records - "Do you want to put the kid down as 'British' OR 'Chinese'?"... (So that's why I mentioned this.)

  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by jaykay:
    Not an issue. Actually they fill in the forms at the registry office not you. All that is shown on the birth certificate is whether PR is established or not.

    For the 2 times I have registered the births of my kids they have put down British as they follow the father! However both have Chinese nationality from birth with passports, ID cards and get you back home quick cards for China.

    When the HKSAR is applied for they just look at the birth cert (which doesn't state a nationality) and the mothers passport / ID / birth cert. In fact exactly the same for the British passports as well except of course my passport / birth cert.
    Thanks Jaykay. As you mentioned the birth certificate, can you tell me what exactly will be mentioned on the birth certificate? For instance, is the nationality of the mother & father mentioned? Because I hold both the Dutch and Chinese nationality, but my wife is only Dutch. I am just afraid that when the birth certificate mentions that both parents are Dutch, that my born child will not obtain the Chinese nationality, even though I hold both.

    And what exactly do you mean by a certificate being PR established? Thanks everyone for the advice so far.

  7. #7

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    There's a field on the HK birth certificate showing whether permanent residency is "established" or "not established" at birth. "Established" means that person has PR/right of abode.


  8. #8

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    BTW, I think this is how the HK birth certificate looks like:

    Look at page 15 of this PDF:
    http://www.edb.gov.hk/FileManager/TC...EDBC07008C.pdf

    There doesn't appear to be any nationality field, so maybe you won't have to worry.

    But regardless you should report yourself as Chinese to the HK government, as that is what they consider you. And it seems that you do want your child to get the Chinese citizenship.

    Last edited by Hairball; 09-07-2010 at 06:02 AM.
    dossier likes this.

  9. #9

    Am wonder what u filled in as in same case of you