HKID/ROA if one's father was a HK national?

[Batty]

Would my mom be able to apply for a HK ID card/ROA under the following circumstances?

1. Her father was a HK national with HKID/ROA. He passed away more than 10 years ago before the handover.
2. She is in her 50s.
3. She is ethnic Chinese.
4. She was not born in HK, has only British citizenship and currently lives in the UK.
5. She lived in HK for 4 years continuously before 1997 but hasn't been back since.

Basically she wants to go back to her roots and retire to live in HK. I was wondering if there's any way she could do this and apply for ROA in HK without the hassle of having to go through one of the various immigration schemes. Any info/advice appreciated.

[imparanoic]

i believe that ur mother can update her old style id card, how many stars does she have on her old card and what are the symbols ?

[dumbdonkey]

the best thing to do is to ask hk immigration. i think she's eligble.

[Batty]

She doesn't have an old style ID card. Actually, she never had any kind of HKID. She was only able to live in HK for those 4 years because she's a British citizen and before the handover, she could just extend her stay by having her passport stamped every year. I think she wouldn't been able to apply for permanent residence/ROA if she'd stayed on for 3 more years and fulfilled that 7 year of continuous stay requirement... but she didn't. I was just wondering if she can apply for ROA now since her father was a HK national.

Will probably have to ask immigration about this though. Further input would be great though!

[PDLM]

What nationality was her mother? And was her father married to her mother?

[Batty]

At the time she was living there, her mother was British too. Her parents were both married to each other.

I'm not sure of her mother or father's nationality at the time of her birth though.

[PDLM]

Well if their nationality at the time of her birth was British then I don't see how she would have any rights to anything in HK. She's just as British as anyone else born in Britain to British parents who happened to spend 4 years in Hong Kong.

[Batty]

1. Her father was never British. He had ROA in HK while he was alive, but I'm not sure if this was after or before her birth.
2. Her mother only acquired British citizenship 20-something years after she was born.

Might I add, my mother's sister has HKID/ROA and was able to apply for it back then when she was still under 18, purely by virtue of her father being a HK national. The only difference between her and her sister was that she was already over 18 when she wanted her ID and her father wasn't very helpful. I guess it's something of a missed opportunity for my mother back then.

[Batty]

Am I right in saying my mom doesn't have a case because my grandfather was neither born in HK nor naturalized as a BDTC? He only had a Certificate of Identity issued by the colonial government for permanent residents of HK who came from mainland China. I don't think he was ever naturalized as a British citizen...

I don't think she's eligible after all, but if anyone has any further input, let me know. She'd rather not apply if it's a hopeless case.

[imparanoic]

why don't advise your mother to apply, she has nothing to lose.