Right of Abode for baby based on Grandparents' Chinese Ethnicity?

H

hkexpat2010

Registered User
Any ethnically Chinese parent(s) here that tried to get Right of Abode for their babies?

We are US citizens and my husband's parents are from China and Hong Kong. We heard we can get our upcoming baby HK Right of Abode based on the grandparent's heritage. My husband doesn't have Right of Abode, but we heard the baby may still be eligible. We live here in HK and have IDs.

If the baby can't get it based on the paternal grandparents, I believe we can apply for my husband and then the baby can get it...

Any advice or similar experiences would be great!
 
Is your baby born in hong kong? If not... In order for your baby to get it, either one if his parents (not g-parent) must be a HK permanent resident at the time of babies birth. So for example, I have lived in HK for 30 years and both parents are born in HK, but at the time of my birth, my parents are settled in Canada....I am not eligible for the HKSAR passport, but MUST give up my Canadian passport and revert to the Chinese one....just went through the process last week...
 
No no...not at this point in time, just thought it quite silly since my parents were only in Canada to worm for three years...they only "landed" there didn't even get residency rights but that doesn't matter to the gov. Landed is equivalent. To "settled" in their books.
 
We are in the same situation. Went to the immigration to check on our baby's status (US citizen mom, UK citizen dad of HK Chinese parents, HK-born baby) and see if she gets HKSAR passport. They told us she's a permanent resident, but can only get ID at 11 yrs old. Right now she's a UK citizen. Either one of us parents must give up our citizenship so she becomes an HK citizen which we don't intend to do. Her having the the PR status at 11 yrs old is good enough at least she has the option to live here and work here if she wants to someday when she's an adult.
 
thanks for the clarification, leslie... i had never heard of someone giving up a canadian passport in order to get a hk one...
 
My son has permanent residency based on his Chinese grandmother's old original HKID of 35 years ago showing Chinese ethnicity (she doesn't even have right of abode because she was here <7 years). He is born here.
Both my husband and I only have temp HKID and Dutch passports and no right of abode. This was enough to get him right of abode. They require original documents as proof. Also they mentioned it's much easier to get it at birth registration. If done later the procedure is more complex.
 
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Hkexpat2010. Yes your child can get right of abode. We are in the exact situation as you and got the children right of abode the same way. We only showed the grandparents "china return home cert" as they were US passport holders.
 
From my experience, ROA/HK passport eligibility is based on Chinese ETHNICITY, not Chinese NATIONALITY.

My husband was born in HK but after the handover, the renounced their Chinese nationality. They still have HK permanent ID cards, but the same kind that an expat would get after living here for 7 years. He is not eligible for a HK passport or return home permit etc. When our first daughter was born and he went to get her birth cert, he told them that he didn't want her to have Chinese nationality as no one in the family had Chinese nationality - but he was told that due to her ethnicity (although she's only half Chinese), she HAD to get ROA, even though none of us have it.

I have another friend who is Singaporean Chinese, and even though she is not Chinese national, her daughter also got ROA.

I have heard otherwise - but in my experience, it is ethnicity that is important rather than nationality.
 
My husband & I are foreign passport holders, holding temp HKID. I am ethnic Chinese, husband isn't. Our daughter is born in HK. Daughter has HKID, HK SAR passport and Home Return Permit based on me being an ethnic Chinese. I have her "entitlement" established while registering her birth cert.
 
Thanks for so many replies! I feel slightly more encouraged, but I know it always depends on the officer you end up speaking with.

A couple of questions:

Inkmink and Obiwan: What is the "Home Return Permit" and "china return home cert" you mentioned? And where did you get it from? Do you know the immigration officer's name you talked to? Would like to try to get the same one if possible!

What original documents did you have to show from the Grandparents? We'll have my mother in laws original hong kong birth certificate, she's still currently a HK Id card holder, and she'll go to the registration office, too. Do we need more evidence than that?

Is there any officer you suggest we talk to in particular?

Do they ask if or require your child will get Chinese passport? That was the issue that came up when we stopped by the immigration desk before.

Thanks so much everyone!
 
If you can "prove" that they were Chinese with something like permanent 3 star ID card, return home permit, or some form of identity document that lists race (some countries do that on the birth cert), that should be fine.

In my case, my obviously Chinese husband went for my first daughter WITHOUT any of the proper "proof" and the insisted that our daughter MUST have Chinese nationality as he was ethnically Chinese, even though he was not a Chinese national. With our 2nd daughter, I went with exactly the same documents and they told me (I'm white) that our daughter was NOT eligible for nationality. I said "Why does her sister have nationality then? It's exactly the same documents". They gave our 2nd daughter Chinese nationality ONLY based on her sister having it. If I'd gone for the birth cert for our first daughter, chances are that neither of them would have Chinese nationality. It's a bit ridiculous really...
 
Oh and to add - our daughters do not have a HKSAR passport, but instead they have in their Australian passports a sticker which says they are eligible for permanent HKID card (ie, a right of abode sticker really) as they enter and leave on a foreign passport. They do not have a "return home permit" or anything like that either.
 
My children have ROA based on Chinese ethnicity but as I was born overseas, I had to additionally prove that my mother had not permanently settled in Canada at the time when I was born even though she was not a Canadian citizen at the time. It's something to do with the Chinese nationality laws. Luckly for me she had written her address in HK as her permanent address (as opposed to her Canadian residential address) on my birth certificate which was sufficient to prove that she had not taken Canada as her permanent home at the time of my birth.

My children are also eligible for the HKSAR passport but only have the sticker in their Canadian passports currently.
 
nicolejoy said:
If you can "prove" that they were Chinese with something like permanent 3 star ID card, return home permit, or some form of identity document that lists race (some countries do that on the birth cert), that should be fine.

In my case, my obviously Chinese husband went for my first daughter WITHOUT any of the proper "proof" and the insisted that our daughter MUST have Chinese nationality as he was ethnically Chinese, even though he was not a Chinese national. With our 2nd daughter, I went with exactly the same documents and they told me (I'm white) that our daughter was NOT eligible for nationality. I said "Why does her sister have nationality then? It's exactly the same documents". They gave our 2nd daughter Chinese nationality ONLY based on her sister having it. If I'd gone for the birth cert for our first daughter, chances are that neither of them would have Chinese nationality. It's a bit ridiculous really...
Click to expand...

Must agree here...my WHOLE family have the HKSAR passport, return home permit...I am the only one without either when my sis went, they were lax (before 1997) now...they are tight (after 1997)....my mom had lost my original birth certificate and had to apply for a new one - that took the canadian government 15-18months....but that time it was post 1997! so go figure!
 
Hi the 'return home permit' is a card that allows you to go in and out of china, and is only applicable to hksar passport holders.

It doesn't matter which officer you go to, it is clear that as long as long as you can prove Chinese descent, your child born in Hk is eligible to be a passport holder.

In our case, both my husband and I were not able to prove Chinese descent so we just brought a copy of the grandparents 'home return permit' and my husband's birth certificate and they granted us.

For our second child it was even easier cos my id says race: Chinese, and no question was asked.

Both my kids have Hk passports while my husband and I don't. The kids hold 3 passports now.
 
I'm Indonesian citizen and come to Hongkong with visitor visa. If I deliver baby in Hongkong, will the baby get the permanent resident? Is there anyone know about this? Thanks.
 
If you are of Chinese descent then the rules might be different. If not, the answer is no. Even those of us who are residents of HK, have been living here for 5 - 6 but not yet on permanent residency and deliver here - the baby does not get permanent residency. The baby's visa status follows that of the parents in our case.
 
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