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Hong Kong ID card - 3 year / 36 month rule - BBC

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  1. #11

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    Read Chinese nationality law to understand whether you are regarded as Chinese national by PRC.
    If yes, there is no need to give up your other nationality to get passport. They don't recognise it in the first place and treat you as Chinese in whole of PRC when you are here. That means no foreign consular protection.

    A correct English version is available on HK Immis website

    Last edited by Morrison; 07-01-2017 at 07:29 AM.

  2. #12

    You don't have to give up your UK Passport to apply for the HKSAR Passport. You and your parents can apply for the HKSAR Passport as you are Chinese Permanent Residents of Hong Kong. You only need your *** Identity Card to apply. When you get the HKSAR Passport you can go to China Travel Service (CTS) to apply for the Home Return Permit which you use to enter Mainland China. Never need to apply for a China Visa again


  3. #13

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    Having read Hairball's guide, it seems we may not be Chinese citizens accirding to PRC law because although I was born in the UK, my parents had UK passports at this time of my birth?

    Does this mean it will be corrected in future, downgrading to RTL from ROA?


  4. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by HKone:
    Having read Hairball's guide, it seems we may not be Chinese citizens accirding to PRC law because although I was born in the UK, my parents had UK passports at this time of my birth?

    Does this mean it will be corrected in future, downgrading to RTL from ROA?
    It's possible.

    On the other hand, we've seen references to kids being born in the UK to British Citizen passport holding parents who were able to get HKSAR passports. If the parents live in HK and just went to the UK to give birth, then (even if the parents both hold BC passports) it seems that this doesn't count as being settled abroad.

    Also, how the parents obtained BC passports is important. Under the 1996 Explanations of the Nationality Law, the British Nationality Selection Scheme isn't recognized - so if one parent had a BC passport through the BNSS, then it's possible that it's also not recognized as 'settled abroad' (though this is less clear).
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  5. #15

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    "***" for an overseas born Chinese who first registered for HKID before the handover just means that the holder is of Chinese race, not necessarily a Chinese national and eligible for HKSAR passport. When this person applies for the HKSAR passport, the ImmD will make an assessment if he has Chinese nationality or not. I have a family member in this situation and was rejected for the HKSAR passport.

    The more obscure benefit to such "***" holder is that he is more likely to be approved for naturalization as a Chinese national, and for his child born in HK, he does not need to prove the child is of Chinese race to get the RoA.

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  6. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by IceEagle:
    Also, how the parents obtained BC passports is important. Under the 1996 Explanations of the Nationality Law, the British Nationality Selection Scheme isn't recognized - so if one parent had a BC passport through the BNSS, then it's possible that it's also not recognized as 'settled abroad' (though this is less clear).
    Recently on another forum, someone else (person of Chinese race born in Hong Kong to parents who obtained British Citizenship via BNSS) was able to apply for "Declaration of Change of Nationality" (form ID920) which essentially renounced their Chinese nationality.
    They even provided to IMMD a letter from UK Home Office stating their parents obtained BC via BNSS. They have photo proof which I couldn't find at the moment.

    Now they seem to be waiting for IMMD to review their travel history for the 36-month rule to see whether they have ROA or RTL before issuing a new HKID. They now have only a temporary paper HKID.

    It seems that, since IMMD accepted their application, that means IMMD does recognize the British Nationality of descents of BNSS BC holders, which is interesting. In one way the decision does comply to the existing interpretation, since the descnet did not obtain BC directly via BNSS. It can be a grey area though

  7. #17

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    Quote Originally Posted by hkha:
    Recently on another forum, someone else (person of Chinese race born in Hong Kong to parents who obtained British Citizenship via BNSS) was able to apply for "Declaration of Change of Nationality" (form ID920) which essentially renounced their Chinese nationality.

    They even provided to IMMD a letter from UK Home Office stating their parents obtained BC via BNSS. They have photo proof which I couldn't find at the moment.
    Interesting. If you could provide a pointer to that thread I'd be interested to take a look.

    Quote Originally Posted by hkha:
    Now they seem to be waiting for IMMD to review their travel history for the 36-month rule to see whether they have ROA or RTL before issuing a new HKID. They now have only a temporary paper HKID.
    My understanding is that this is the case for all HK Chinese who renounce.

    Quote Originally Posted by hkha:
    It seems that, since IMMD accepted their application, that means IMMD does recognize the British Nationality of descents of BNSS BC holders, which is interesting. In one way the decision does comply to the existing interpretation, since the descnet did not obtain BC directly via BNSS. It can be a grey area though
    Right. What I was saying before was that the parent's British nationality from BNSS was not recognized, and suggested that it might not even be recognized for the purposes of foreign ROA/foreign permanent residence. (Since your example had the child born in HK, this bit is not applicable).

    But in all cases, the child's own foreign British nationality would still be recognized for the purposes of having a foreign travel document and a foreign right of abode, and for the Declaration of Change of Nationality. (I think it's pretty settled that for the purposes of a Declaration of Change of Nationality, the parent's BNSS British nationality is not recognized/allowed but the child's is.)

    So if any grandchildren were born overseas, the child would be considered settled abroad.

  8. #18

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    Quote Originally Posted by IceEagle:
    Interesting. If you could provide a pointer to that thread I'd be interested to take a look.
    It's a thread on hkgolden in Chinese. The thread is kind of a circlejerk too, sometimes.
    The reply with letter from UK Home Office: 『薪火post』BNO 續期資訊(27) - 香港高登討論區
    The reply with confirmation letter from IMMD: 『薪火post』BNO 續期資訊(27) - 香港高登討論區
    It'd probably be too difficult to try to follow the whole thread on that specific subject since there is so much stuff mixed together.

    Quote Originally Posted by IceEagle:
    My understanding is that this is the case for all HK Chinese who renounce.
    I didn't know. It seems stupid, but then the whole 3-year rule in general is stupid too.

    Quote Originally Posted by IceEagle:
    Right. What I was saying before was that the parent's British nationality from BNSS was not recognized, and suggested that it might not even be recognized for the purposes of foreign ROA/foreign permanent residence. (Since your example had the child born in HK, this bit is not applicable).

    But in all cases, the child's own foreign British nationality would still be recognized for the purposes of having a foreign travel document and a foreign right of abode, and for the Declaration of Change of Nationality. (I think it's pretty settled that for the purposes of a Declaration of Change of Nationality, the parent's BNSS British nationality is not recognized/allowed but the child's is.)

    So if any grandchildren were born overseas, the child would be considered settled abroad.
    I see... I missed that part where it's the parent's BC from BNSS that matters here. I am not a law person, but it seems that it's really up to whether the parents are considered to be "settled abroad" at the time of the child's birth, and whether one is "settled abroad" isn't well defined in the current legislation, so nobody knows how it will be handled.