I had the same experience with Immi,
but once you have something rolling
I was very positively surprised by the guidance I got, some during phone conversations.
I assume the bureaucrats at the tribunal are made of the same stuff.
Write them with a request to look into your case, get a case number, contact person, and things will develop. I wish for you.
Last edited by Morrison; 10-01-2015 at 09:07 AM.
The Registration of Persons Tribunal does not hear appeals in relation to citizenship applications.
As an update to the previous SCMP article, there was a follow up published in June 2014:
City News
UK-born boy wrongly granted right of abode
60 words
11 June 2014
South China Morning Post
SCMP
(c) 2014 South China Morning Post Publishers Limited, Hong Kong. All rights reserved.
A High Court judge found an Immigration Department commissioner of registration had erred in procedure
when granting right of abode to a British-born boy on review. The judge ordered a fresh review. James
McAllister, 12, was born in Britain but his mother has Hong Kong permanent residency.
CITY
DIGEST
From general enquiries with the Registration of Persons Tribunal:
"Thank you for your interest in the Registration of Persons Tribunal.
The Tribunal will only supply copies of the Determinations of the Adjudicators to the parties involved. The general public does not access to the Determination.
The Tribunal does not have any printed materials for general distribution to the public. However, if you are interested in the establishment or the appeal procedure of the Tribunal, you may wish to refer to the Registration of Persons Ordinance and its Regulations (Cap. 177 and 177A, Hong Kong Law). "
I have gone thru an appeal at the HKSAR passports appeal board (but lost). I believe has the same structure & procedures as the registration of persons tribunal. In fact they are based in the same location. It operates like a mini and informal court. Both sides (the person lodging the appeal and the immigration department) will present their arguments. The tribunal will schedule a hearing if necessary where both sides will attend, and will make a decision after that. The tribunal is made up of professionals, particularly lawyers. And each proceeding will be heard by three of its members. My whole appeal, from the time I lodge an appeal application, to the final verdict, took about 9 months.
Thanks kma88. That is very helpful. Are you prepared to say a bit about the grounds for your appeal and why it was not successful?
I was appealing against the ImmD's decision to reject my overseas born child's application of HKSAR passport. So the key is whether the child has Chinese nationality based on Article 5 of the Chinese Nationality Law. And in our case it centers on whether I (the Chinese parent) is "settled abroad". ImmD's argument is that I have permanent residence in Singapore, and "permanent residence" = "settled abroad". My argument was that the Singapore status needs to be renewed every 5 years on basis of continual employment, so it's really not "permanent" despite the name. And in addition our child despite born in Singapore is not entitled to SG citizenship. But in the end the tribunal took the view of the ImmD, basically stating that since everyone in the family was physically living in SG and running our lives here then we are "settled" in SG. I guess my next option is to challenge this in the HK courts, which I am not prepared to do.
People go to court for trivial reasons, eg to have the place of birth changed from Pakistan to small town Pakistan in their HK passport. So you have to asess what this is worth to you. And the cost of it, i.e.,being a Chinese national in China, no consular protection.
Having said that, I am quite certain your child got a foreign country's citizenship by birth. Because in Chinese Nationality Law
this is a precondition for not being regarded as Chinese national.
That is, Chinese parent settled abroad, but
child got no foreign nat by birth, thus still a Chinese national.
As to settled abroad, I think there is no clear cut definition to it and it is at the discretion of HK Immi.
I see it the same way as you,
conditional visa, subject to employment condition, not permanently settled abroad.
I would go for it