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Acquiring HK ID card for my baby

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  1. #1

    Join Date
    Jul 2005
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    Xiangtan, China
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    77

    Acquiring HK ID card for my baby

    Hello,

    I would like to know if I'm HK ID card holder with 3 stars and my wife is from the Mainland China. If we decided to have a baby in Mainland China, can my baby still acquire HK ID card?

    Another question. I'm Canadian so I can acquire Canadian citizenship for my baby. Then do I need to get a visa in order for my baby stay in Mainland China.
    Since I came to Mainland China with my China ID card (something called Return Home ID card or something like for HK and Macau Residents who can go back and forth); therefore, I didn't use my Canadian passport to acquire the Z visa. So I didn't have the Residency booklet for foreigners in China.

    The Canadian Consulate haven't been much help in this area on whether in getting a visa or not.

    Anybody in the same situation as me. Any help is appreciated.


  2. #2

    Join Date
    Mar 2005
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    17

    HKID- whether your baby can get the HKID is subject to conditions case by case. And this is the answer you would get no matter how many times you call or write or personally visit the Immigration in HK. IF your baby was born in HK, then automatically, he is able to get the HKID with 3 stars. However, if he is NOT born in HK, whether he gets one or not will be subject to the approval by the immigration. I can only tell you this: You can try to apply for your baby. However, the factors that will help your baby to get the HKID are:

    Proof that you( parent with the HKID) is a permanent resident of HK. LIke you have a job, pay taxes, have property, or rent a place to live,and that you have lived here for 7 years before.... etc. Otherwise, your baby will only be given the HKID after he lives in HK for 7 years.
    When you submit the application for your baby, you will be asked a LOT of questions, and will need to submit all the documents and proofs that you are a HK permanent resident, that's why your child needs to have a HKID, to stay here. However, your child's HKID will NOT be 3 star, until he lives in HK for 7 years.

    Regarding Canadian passport- Canada recognizes dual citizenship. If any one of you (the parents) are Canadian Citizen, then up until now (they are planning to change the law (debating)... you better hurry.
    If one of you is Canadian, then your baby is automatically qualified to get the CDN passport, b/c he is Canadian, no matter where he was born.

    You need to submit the application for citizenship card first, which takes 6-9 months, then once you received the citizenship card, you can then apply for the 3 year passport for your baby.

    If during this time without the citizenship card, you need to travel with your baby, you need to submit your own passport, and your baby's birth certificate indicating you are the parent, and a proof of air ticket that you need to depart on certain date. They will issue your baby a TEMPORARY passport that is good for 1 year. However, they advised, ensure you really need the 1 year passport before applying for it ,b/c it costs the same as the regular passport, and b/c most countries require you to have 6 months valid on the passport upon entry, you really have only 6 months to use for your baby's temporary passport.

    I hope this helps you, and good luck.

    P.S. you using the "return home ID" to enter CHINA has NOTHING to do with your baby's stay in China.

    Your baby should have the Chinese Birth Certificate when he's born, that means he can stay in China without visa without passport for as long as you want. Upon the exit, you will need a passport to exit, with a exit stamp. If you re-enter, with a Canadian Passport, then your baby would need a visa to re-enter.

    I don't know the details about obtaining the Chinese passport for your baby, but remember they do not allow dual citizenship. Many people do not mention they have Canadian Passport when applying for Chinese or HKSAR passport.

    Hope this helps you.


  3. #3

    Join Date
    Jun 2005
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    Hong Kong
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    23,181

    Just a note that "***" only applies to over-18s. The under-18 equivalent is "*" (although http://www.immd.gov.hk/ehtml/hkid_frontinfo.htm says that only those age 11-18 get that).

    And aged under 11 there is no requirement to apply for a HKID to live in HK, unless you also wish to apply for a HKSAR passport. See:
    http://www.immd.gov.hk/ehtml/hkid_b18.htm


  4. #4

    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Xiangtan, China
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    Thank you

    Thank you for your help.

    I have further questions.

    How do you know that Canada will be changing in the laws? Could you tell me what website you got it out from?

    So my child exits China, what visa should my child get if come back to China. Since I will use the Return Home ID to come back to China, my baby may get a tourist visa. I know most foreigners have the Green Residence booklet. I know foreign teachers are allowed to bring their family along. The family members will also get that Visa too. Such a headache.

    How do HK born child gets to move back and forth from Mainland China with what documents?

    I'm not working in HK, but I do have banking statements still mailed to my aunts place though.
    I think it would be difficult for me to get my child HK ID if not born in HK. For a lot of HK people who have mainland wife to come to HK to give birth. I haven't heard of born in China can also get HK ID card.

    Anybody you know who was successful?


  5. #5

    Join Date
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    you are ALWAYS better off to ask at the source. call HK immig. i have always found them helpful. AND you are sure to get the legally correct responses.

    good luck!


  6. #6

    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Xiangtan, China
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    HK Immigration

    I did e-mail HK Immigration but I have not gotten any replies from them. It is over a week now.

    In the past, they replied back to me about the HK Smart ID card and what documents to bring. It took them like three days to answer me.

    But it seems that my e-mail is just sitting there. I know they recieved my e-mail since they have the automated replied e-mail sent back to me.

    Do you think I should call the office in HK or in Beijing since I'm in China working?


  7. #7

    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Posts
    17

    I sympathize you completely, it was a complete headache for our first child too.... it gets sorted out eventually. Don't worry.

    Regarding Canada changing their law- it's still in debate, it's just brought up in Canada to discuss and consider. I know this b/c my friends in Canada told me it was announced sometime before new year. Then I went to the Canadian Consulate and asked about it... they said at this moment, it's still just talking about it, but no word when it will become a policy. Then others who were waiting for their turn to do their passports said, it was stupid because that would mean babies that are born to Canadian Expats become illegitimate? It got really heated in the waiting room about this topic.

    You CAN call the immigration of HK, (like carang suggested) however, I can tell you after many phone calls with them while I was overseas, and then back to HK... the same answer from them, whether my child gets a HKID depends case by case. It's best you bring your child in and talk to an officer.... (takes up 1 day, by the way). Then the officer gave me her phone number, and reference number, took a period of 3 months to complete the whole procedure. However, my case is not the same as yours, we DO live in HK.

    For HKID- unless you child is planning to live in HK, I think you won't have a need to apply for one yet. When you DO want him to live in HK, you just take the passport, and get the 3 month chop first, then it's applying for 1 year stay. My friends ' children do it annually. It's not that bad, but it is something you have to do until 7 years mark.

    As for your child leaving China, IF you enter China with him with a Chinese Passport/identity, then he has no problems. If you decide to ENTER with him on a Canadian Passport, then he's considered a foreigner, then he needs to apply for the resident visa.

    Again, you as a parent entering China with whatever document has nothing to do with your child's documents. He's an individual on his own. When my baby went into china without anything except her CDN passport, we had to get the visa (tourist) for her, while my husband and I entered with our "return home ID card". I asked which line I should line up b/c it's two separate lines.... the officers told me to line up at the passport line for foreigners b/c my baby was only 6 months old.... then they took our cards to another counter to process us.

    As for HK born children going in and out of china, they either get the return home card too, or use a passport with a visa in it too.


    Good luck.

    Last edited by pianokc; 04-04-2007 at 02:13 AM.

  8. #8

    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Xiangtan, China
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    Thanx

    Thank you for your information and comments.

    For some reason my mother and sister got the HKSAR passport even though they got Canadian passport.

    Although HKSAR passport says you have to relinquish your other passport, they still got theirs.

    I'm sort of puzzled. If you don't report you have Canadian nationality, HK officials will assume you don't have. I think there are loopholes here.

    Anyway, what visa would my child get in order to come back to China. And then how to get a Resident Visa for my child in this case. I should be getting a Z visa if I used my Canadian passport. The school will apply the resident visa for me. Since I don't have to get any visa or resident visa, I don't know what is the process of what visa to get. Then how to apply for resident visa. This is where I'm stuck on.

    When you leaving by airplane, the immigration officials will ask for your documents. Has it ever happened when a Chinese official confiscated the passport because you use a Return Home ID as well?

    What website can I find information on resident visa for China?

    For sure, I want my child to travel back to Canada to visit with my wife too. My wife has already been rejected twice to go to Canada even though my father is sponsoring her. Albeit she was a housewife at that time of the application. Do you think Canadian Immigration officals have a quota on how many to approve each day. That day when she applied for a visa, there were a lot of applicants. We were prepared with a lot of information. But others didn't provided much information still got a visa.
    How much money is enough to really get a visa to travel to Canada?
    Now my wife has a job now and we own an apartment too. Hopefully this time it would be better.

    Thanx


  9. #9

    Mainland-born child to father who is HK born but US citizen and local Mainland mother

    I have read some of the posts here. Gosh, I was having such a headache dealing with my brother's situation. I got my HKID 10 yrs ago b/c I was HK-born and never got a HKID and just thought it would save me tons in visas, although prior to that, we've been paying the visas each time we visit China.

    My brother was utterly confused, since neither of us read Chinese and have no relatives in HK. He uses the US passport as his travel document and had to keep getting visas to go into China. After he married a local Mainlander, he would trek to HK every few months to get a visa. Several yrs ago i told him he should get his HKID. We applied but there was one stupid technicality. We left HK back to Mainland so when we mailed the application it was not postmarked until Monday, the following business day. Due to that stupid technacality, they rejected his application. (Are you serious). Years later a family friend asked him to re-apply but he didn't know what a HKID was, he thought he would lose his US citizenship, naive as he was. So this time when I go to visit, I'll help him out with this.

    Ok...back to his daughter--my niece. She was Mainland born (the entire family lives there). She obviously has her Mainland birth certificate and has a US passport since her dad is a US citizen. My brother says he can't take her to HK when I visit b/c she needs some sort of authorization from the Chin govt? Can someone elaborate this? Also, if she uses her US passport to travel from China to HK, would she forever need to get visas/visa renewals? What a pain? i, too, have been emailing immigration and each time they reply it's a diff person responding and I"m too frustrated.

    So just say my brother meets me in HK, turn in his application for HKPID (he's a cut and dry case, so I"d be surprised if it doesn't get approved). 10 days later, he receives his HKPID card. But could he submit the application for verification for my niece at the same time he submits his ROP1? and does he need to physically bring his child to HK to apply? The problem is that it's multi-stepped. Say after he gets his ID, he returns to HK w/ his child to apply for the "eligibility"...then they have to wait for their decision, then make a 2nd trip to apply for the ROP1 (?) , then submit in person and wait another 10 days to see if they get approved. If she gets approved, she can then go to China Travel Svs to get her 'return home" entry and can go back n forth using this? Or, will she be in more of a mess b/c they would ask her to get a visa for her US passport every 3 months b/c then she'd be considered a "foreigner" although she was born in China?!

    Ok, sorry for the long-winded description....


  10. #10

    Join Date
    Dec 2009
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    Why would your brother be entitled to a HKID, let alone a HKPID?

    1. He was born in the mainland.
    2. His father was a US citizen when he was born in the mainland.


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