UK passport for baby born in HK

[Hjk10001]

Hi
An unusual one this, and apologies if this is posted in the wrong section:

My girlfriend and I will be moving to HK in a couple of months from London. We are both UK citizens/passport holders. Her company is sorting out all visas/work permits etc. for the two of us, so that is fine.
However she is also expecting our baby in late January.
The problem is we need to get a passport for the baby asap after it is born, 3-4 days as opposed to the 3-4 weeks it normally takes in order to travel the short distance to Shenzen.

So far the UK consulate in HK have been pretty uncommunicative/unhelpful......maybe it will be easier to communicate with them once in HK. Girlfriend's office are looking into it but it's not really their remit.
I was wondering if anyone here had had experience of getting ID/passport for a new born baby asap, and the best way to expedite the process.

Thanks

[imparanoic]

if either of you have permanent hk id cards, then your child can actually apply for HK sar passport then return home pass, a lot easier than visa and uk passport for offsprings (i got my kids uk passports via uk consulate website in Aug 2015, paid via credit cards, printed out the final form and send to uk with my uk passport, took around 6 weeks)

as the uk passport is printed in Uk and then mailed to Hk, there is no way of expediting the process

the only other way, assuming your kid is eligible, get a hk sar passport, go to uk, travel to liverpool and expedite the uk passport from there, it's also expensive to do this method

[pin]

Few questions to the OP. Its your girlfriend who is getting a job here. What about you? Do you have permanent HKID. Otherwise how are you getting status to live in HK?

As for the baby, getting a passport 3-4 days after birth. Not sure if that would be possible. Just the paperwork involved for a new born would take around a week. I think the only circumstance where you would be able to travel with a newborn so young is there is an emergency.

Could be wrong though.

[Hjk10001]

Thanks for the quick replies!

Yes, it is my girlfriend who will be working in HK. Initially i will be a 'dependent spouse' or whatever the correct term is. I have no need to work there.
Neither of us have HKSAR ID cards. Is that something one/both of us can apply for once there? Is it something we MUST apply for if we are full time residents?
We did look into a HK passport for the baby but thought that was not possible.
The documents for the baby whether UK/HK/Chinese are just for use in the first 2-3 months to get to Shenzhen and back.

Thanks again

[imparanoic]

in my opinion, some parts of shenzhen such as lohu and some parts of futien is not really suitable for a newborn baby, worse facilities than hong kong, fewer places to change nappies( apart from hotels and high end malls), on the other hand, places like nanshan/shenzhen bay or yantien are ok for new born babies.

[imparanoic]

just curious why are you eager to travel to shenzhen after your kids just been born? why consider going to shenzhen before the kid is born to save on the hassle of uk passports or the lack of it.

[kma88]

To go thru this travel plan, you need to apply for
1) birth certificate for baby
2) UK passport for baby
3) China visa for baby
in sequential order. You cannot apply for these simultaneously.

HKSAR passport is not possible unless either of you is a Chinese national or of Chinese race. PR for parent is not enough. Even then, first ever HKSAR passport would take 6 to 8 weeks.

You really need to rethink your travel plan.

[Hjk10001]

We knew it was looking very tricky to pull this off......but i guess it is starting to look impossible.

My girlfriend WAS a Chinese passport holder but she gave it up a few years ago. Getting a new one would also be very problematic.
She is happy to have the baby in HK but not in China. (And i am sure getting documentation for a baby born in China would also be a major headache)
However from various friends and personal contacts she has heard wonderful things about a 'Mother and new-born' centre in Shenzhen. You definitely don't get them in UK! I had never heard of such things but it is like a specialist hotel-cum-hospital for Mothers and new born babies. There are doctors and nurses around at all times as well as upmarket hotel-type amenities They take care of everything, e.g.feeding of both mother and baby, for as long as you are willing to pay. That is where she wants to stay for the first few weeks after the birth, so however horrible Shenzhen itself is does not really matter.

Think that is the whole story......hope that satisfies some of the curiosity

[pin]

We knew it was looking very tricky to pull this off......but i guess it is starting to look impossible.

My girlfriend WAS a Chinese passport holder but she gave it up a few years ago. Getting a new one would also be very problematic.
She is happy to have the baby in HK but not in China. (And i am sure getting documentation for a baby born in China would also be a major headache)
However from various friends and personal contacts she has heard wonderful things about a 'Mother and new-born' centre in Shenzhen. You definitely don't get them in UK! I had never heard of such things but it is like a specialist hotel-cum-hospital for Mothers and new born babies. There are doctors and nurses around at all times as well as upmarket hotel-type amenities They take care of everything, e.g.feeding of both mother and baby, for as long as you are willing to pay. That is where she wants to stay for the first few weeks after the birth, so however horrible Shenzhen itself is does not really matter.

Think that is the whole story......hope that satisfies some of the curiosity

yeah, these things exist in Korea and are very popular.

Still haven't dealt with your visa issue.

But yes, looking impossible. I guess you will have to slum it in HK after giving birth.

You could consider arranging a confinement lady a compromise.

[kma88]

Ah I see. In this case the baby will be a Chinese national (in addition to British) and Hong Kong Permanent Resident at birth. Just need to prove mom used to be a Chinese national. Also FYI if baby is born in mainland China he would not be a Chinese national.

I think the quickest way for the baby to travel to Shenzhen would be:
1) get birth cert for baby
2) apply for the HKSAR Re-Entry Permit for baby (faster than getting HKSAR passport, but only good for trips to mainland China and Macau)
3) apply for a one-time entry/exit permit to travel to Mainland China. Probably just take one business day vs 5-10 days for the normal Home Return Permit