Which visa should I apply for or should I apply for my HKID?

[Morrison]

1. Sorry to say this but gruntfuttock has no actual experience when it comes to Chinese Nationality by descent. He is just giving advice based on what he finds online. So be careful.
2. Google for fellow geo user "hairball" s guide to ROA, which he hosts on another site
3. Although hAirball's site is quite good, it used to contain a mistake when it comes to Chinese nationality law.
I dont know whether he has amended it by now.
You find a correct translation on HK Immigration's website.
4. If BOTH of your parents where permanently settled abroad at the time of your birth ( eg permanent visa / Canadian natuonality) and you gained Canadian nat through birth then you don't possess Chinese nationality and thus no ROA.
In other words, what about your father ?
5. Do apply for verification of eligibility but first read through hairball's guide and Hk Immi's website, then decide on what basis to apply for and what box to tick ( ROA/ RTL)

ROA and Right To Land, both secure you a HK Id card that is not tied to employment here.
However, ROA based on you being a Chinese national
gives you more rights ( eg home return permit ) but you lose Canadian consular protection.

Much luck

[Morrison]

There are also plenty of informative threads about this on geo, with hands on experience from
writers of a similar background.

And yes, you must be in hK when you submit the app but can leave the same day.they check the entry chop later.

Lastly, If you dont want to go through all of this you could you apply for a work visa.
If you dont prove your rights for Roa/rtl then Hk immi treats you just like a Canadian. Your company probably just wants to save some visa hassle !?

[HKHK154]

To find out if you're not eligible for ROA you need to pretty much say;

When both parents were born, their Citizenship(s) (Former/Current) how they got the citizenship(s), the visa / residential status of your parents at your birth, when you were born, how often you visit Hong Kong.

I might be forgetting something but essentially there is a checklist of stuff that will help to clarify what status you would most probably be entitled to. I would however like to say that they seem to bend the rules or be lenient in some cases if you were born before 97 as they have a little bit more wiggle room with pre-handover cases.

You will have to fill out the same form anyway, so may as well do it properly. Essentially in my case and other peoples case we filled out a ROA application knowing that it was going to fail but instead provide us with RTL.

My advice would be either post it / put the application in the box -as soon as possible- if you land at 9am, go dump your luggage at the hotel and put the application in that morning. Provide copies of passports, marriage certificates, visas, birth certificates, whatever you've got. Anything they need to ask you for is going to hold up the application.

If you can make it clear cut then it's likely to get processed quickly. I am not sure if it was because I was white and my dad was born in the olden'days that mine was processed and a result mailed within 4 days. It could have been the fact that I (as I have stated in previous threads) provided all of the relevant information and even wrote a letter summarizing the situation including dates and so on and why I should be eligible for RTL.

If you can conclusively prove you're not a Chinese citizen, parents born in HK (* could write a few paragraphs on this post 83 / with regards to hand over, but its not relevant in your case) and that you have been outside HK for 36 months or more then it's pretty cut and dry.

You can probably streamline getting a temporary HKID(totally legal ID, which I have traveled on) in 2-3 weeks if you are lucky and time it right and have your documents in order that make your case clear to determine. If they're busy then well you're out of luck. Getting the permanent ID took at least a few more weeks if I recall.

TLDR; You should get at least RTL & need to provide a lot of specific info/documents, apply in HK, ROP145. Temp HKID 2-4 weeks, proper HKID 6-9 weeks if you're not held up.

Your mileage may vary.

[Liemm2]

Hey HKHK14, after searching the web, using info here and information on Hairballs site I finally figured my situation out.

My mom was born in HK and I was born in 1990, as a result, by descent I obtained a BDCT(British Citizenship) which gives me ROA. Unfortunately, I did not meet the following requirements to maintain the ROA and it got downgraded to a RTL.

So now, I need to do the ROP145 in order to verify that I actually do have a RTL (which based off my story above should have it). I guess for my company and other companies, its easier to bring someone over who has a HKID versus getting a long term work visa where you have to prove why you can't hire from HK and go through all these other steps, which is why they are pushing for me to get a HKID.

The problem like you mentioned is that I need to be in HK to submit my ROP145 and who knows how long that process will take which leaves me in a state of me not being able to do anything since I am not legally allowed to work. I also live in Canada so making a trip to HK just to submit my ROP145 is not really feasible.

But thanks for the additonal information on providing as much detail as possible which may help streamline the process. From the way I look at it, I have 2 options.

1. Go to HK on a visitors visa, do the application and pray it does not take 6-8 weeks as mentioned on the website - a lot of uncontrollable factors here like you said (how busy they are etc)
2. Get my company to sponsor me on a temporary work visa and apply when I am there, switch over from my work visa to my RTL/HKID once it has been processed. I am not sure how much work
this

What are your thoughts on this?

[Morrison]

Yo need to be in HK only a few hours to use the post office at the airport. I did that

I would say it is fast and painless IF your documents are conclusive.

I would ask company to sponsor a trip to HK to achieve this HK ID task.

[Claire ex-ax]

2. Get my company to sponsor me on a temporary work visa

There is no such thing as a temporary work visa, just a 'normal' employment visa, which requires a company give all the required information. Except the processing to take 4-6 weeks, assuming all is straightforward.

[Proplus]

Have you thought about accommodation? I mean, you're not just going to get off a plane and rent the 1st place you see, right? So it's best you came over beforehand on a short trip to look at flats/areas whilst applying for your ID card.

Sent from my GT-N7100 using GeoClicks mobile app