RTL FOR British Born...Canadian

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  1. #1

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    RTL FOR British Born...Canadian

    Hi, my mother was born in HK and my father was born in China but lived in HK since 3 years old. They both grew up there (living for 20 years+) but then did their graduate studies in London. When I was born, my dad was settled but naturalized as a BC a few months after my birth. Way back, my mom was a settled CUKC (thru Hong Kong) so she got citizenship when Margaret Thatcher introduced British Citizenship before I was born.

    I don't know if this is a stretch, but do I have a chance for RTL? My parents both had old HK IDs and are applying for new ones (which I assume will be successful). I don't think being Canadian effects anything though. Any thoughts? I think my situation is a bit off since my mom supposedly isn't a BDTC.


  2. #2

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    Hi,

    I am 27 years old. Born in Canada and the first time I've entered HK was when I was 23. I have entered HK 3 times for vacations and on my third time. I have applied and received my RTL HK ID.

    My conditions are:
    Father born in HK with his HKID
    Mother born in China but moved to HK when she was young and has her HKID

    Both didn't go to renew their IDs until 2003(mom) and 2007(dad).

    I was able to get the right to land by proving to them certain paperwork.

    1. My full-length Canadian birth certificate (with both parent's name on it)
    2. My Passport with stamp proving my legal entry into HK during my application
    3. My father's birth certificate
    4. My father's HKID
    5. My father's immigration to Canada papers
    6. My father's Canadian Citizenship (long form)
    7. My father's HK Passport to prove legal entry into Canada (for immigration to Canada)
    8. My mother's HKID
    9. My mother's immigration to Canada papers
    10. My mother's Canadian Citizenship (long form)
    11. My mother's HK Passport to prove legal entry into Canada (for immigration to Canada)
    12. My parent's marriage certificate

    Upon bringing these documents, they issued a letter allowing me to apply for the RTL HKID. I took the letter and went through the normal process to apply for an HKID.

    HKID received 2 weeks after applying.

    Hope this helps.
    Cheers~

    Simon

    Last edited by siwo; 10-01-2008 at 05:10 AM.

  3. #3

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    Not sure when the birth cut off is but current rules are that at least one of your parents needs to have held Chinese Nationality/Citizenship at the time of your birth for you to qualify.

    This is certainly the case for my children - however they are very young and as I said I don't know if there is a birth year cut off point where these rules apply (my wife is Chinese and was born in HK, but moved to the UK at an early age and so got UK nationality before our children were born - thus they don't qualify for RTL)

    Best bet is to contact immigration. [email protected]

    Last edited by Pekkerhead; 10-01-2008 at 09:25 AM.

  4. #4

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    Quote Originally Posted by Pekkerhead:
    Not sure when the birth cut off is but current rules are that at least one of your parents needs to have held Chinese Nationality/Citizenship at the time of your birth for you to qualify.

    This is certainly the case for my children - however they are very young and as I said I don't know if there is a birth year cut off point where these rules apply (my wife is Chinese and was born in HK, but moved to the UK at an early age and so got UK nationality before our children were born - thus they don't qualify for RTL)

    Best bet is to contact immigration. [email protected]

    You can only qualify for RTL if you once had ROA status. For people who were born overseas to British Dependent Territory Citizens of Hong Kong, they were automatically entitled to ROA because they are also British Dependent Territory Citizens by descent. If they haven't established their ROA before the handover in 1997, or have left Hong Kong for a period longer than 36 months, they will have their status downgraded to RTL.

    Since the status of British Dependent Territity Citizen does not exist anymore, they have made special provisions to grant RTL to people who were once eligible for ROA on these grounds. This is the reason why I was approved for RTL.

    In the case of your children, they were probably born after the handover which is why they don't qualify. If they were born in Hong Kong, I believe they get ROA up until the age of 21 but once they reach the age of 21 , they lose this status and must reapply own their own after living in Hong Kong for no less than seven years.

  5. #5

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    It sounds as though your explanation above is probably more relevant to the OP's case. Like I said, I wasn't sure if there was a cut-off, but a post/pre 97 cut off makes perfect sense - although this wasn't explicit in our rejection letter.

    What was explicitly stated on the letter though was the reason for the failed application - at least one of the parents must hold Chinese citizenship, at the time of the child's birth, for the overseas born children to qualify for RTL.

    Still worth knowing if anyone out there is in a similar situation to us.

    Anyway, on a good note, it did mean their initial dependent visa applications were done in just a few hours after the immigration officer took pity on us (we took along completed forms as we expected the application to fail)


  6. #6

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    Hey thanks you guys for the responses. It's probably best just to apply and see. I think it's not always a consistent result and might depend on the person you get. My dad might've been a Chinese citizen since he went to the UK on those green Certificate of Identity books, but he was settled there when I was born...


  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by TOR2008:
    Hey thanks you guys for the responses. It's probably best just to apply and see. I think it's not always a consistent result and might depend on the person you get. My dad might've been a Chinese citizen since he went to the UK on those green Certificate of Identity books, but he was settled there when I was born...
    I think you're fine as long one of your parents were born in Hong Kong and have not renounced Chinese citizenship. I know a BBC girl who has RTL so I'd assume it'd be the same for you as well.

    If one or both parents were born in Hong Kong, then that means they held BDTC Citizenship at one point and you had an entitlement for ROA. If you apply now, you should be able to get RTL. Just check with the IMMD and apply.

  8. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by Pekkerhead:
    It sounds as though your explanation above is probably more relevant to the OP's case. Like I said, I wasn't sure if there was a cut-off, but a post/pre 97 cut off makes perfect sense - although this wasn't explicit in our rejection letter.

    What was explicitly stated on the letter though was the reason for the failed application - at least one of the parents must hold Chinese citizenship, at the time of the child's birth, for the overseas born children to qualify for RTL.

    Still worth knowing if anyone out there is in a similar situation to us.

    Anyway, on a good note, it did mean their initial dependent visa applications were done in just a few hours after the immigration officer took pity on us (we took along completed forms as we expected the application to fail)
    ah ok, that makes perfect sense then. I'm still surprised how they would still let the application go through even though there's close to no chance of it being approved. It's funny how you had the completed dependant forms right when the application failed.
    Last edited by Aritaurus; 12-01-2008 at 03:17 AM.

  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by Aritaurus:
    ah ok, that makes perfect sense then. I'm still surprised how they would still let the application go through even though there's close to no chance of it being approved. It's funny how you had the completed dependant forms right when the application failed.
    Well, to cut a long story short, we were told by my daughter's English-teacher-to-be (a HK-born Pakistani lady) that she should be eligable. She obviously felt our situation matched her own to some extent as all her Pakistani-born children have RTL.

    Suffice to say we had read up and weren't confident (as you can tell by the already completed dependent visa forms), but thought it wouldn't do any harm to get a definitive answer.

    Problem is, it ended up taking nearly two months and submitting loads of my wife's parents docs as well - I think they were just trying to nail down the exact date when my wife gained UK nationality - hence the rush on the visa to enrol her in school in time for the new term.

    Aah well, all fun and games. But actually my opinion of the Immigration department has been very high ever since our little experience. Very friendly and helpful.