American Passport/Registration for baby

O

Obiwan

Registered User
After much thought, we got our baby a HK SAR passport, as we would like to leave the option of citizenship open for her until she is 18 and can decide if she would like to be an American.

Couple of questions, would appreciate advice/thoughts.

1. Can we also apply for an American passport for her now? Would that mean that she would have elected to be an American, or does she still have the option to elect when she's 18? If she can hold both passports, it would be ideal, cos currently she is holding a different passport from us.

2. Do we need to notify her birth or register her with the American Embassy in any case?

Thanks!
 
My husband is American while I am a local, our baby girl was born in HK. We got her both American and Hong Kong passports. I think there is a time frame that you need to notify the US Embassy about the birth of your child, you can read the US Embassy webpage for more information. Better to do it sooner than later, there are alot of forms to fill out and the procedure is really a pain!! (Would never do it if my husband is not American, because don't know what good does it do to my girl being an American, no national health system, gun shoots everywhere, high unemployment rate and country in great debt..) But holding 2 passports can leave her more opportunities later in life whatever she wants to do/wherever she wants to go, plus it's a lot easier to go thru customs when we go back to the US to visit the grandparents.
 
Thanks gladyswly, we are in the same situation.

Now that you girl has both passports, does she still have the option to decide on her citizenship at 18, or would she have elected to be an American now given that she has got the American passport?
 
My husband is an American and i am from Philippines but our baby will be HK born. Can i still get her a HK passport & American passport? I just wonder if she could have these just for her future opportunities.. Thanks in advance...
 
Hi Bubi, for HK SAR passport, you will need to show that either of the parent (or grandparents) is a Chinese national. In our case, both of us did not qualify, but my husband's father is a Shanghainese (eventhough he is now an American citizen too).
 
Obiwan, for instance and to my knowledge, now that my baby has both HK and US passport, she owns citizenships of both places, is it not? She has her own Report of Birth and Social Security Number from the US and birth certificate from HK. I know US gov only let you hold one citizenship but HK gov doesnt care if you own 10, so far we don't have problem from the US gov, and I don't think she will have to choose even she reaches the age of 18. Correct me if I am wrong, need to prepare for that!
 
From our experience, HK govt does not allow dual citizenship. i.e. We have to give up American Citizenship to be able to get a HK SAR passport. For our baby, as she was born here, we were able to get her HK SAR passport (with the grandfather's Chinese lineage). Now that she has her HKSAR passport, we can get her the American passport as well. We haven't done that cos we are checking to see if by doing so, she will then have chosen to be an American, and will lose her option to elect her citizenship at a later stage. We would prefer to preserve that option at the current moment. If she doesn't lose the option, then it would be better for her to hold 2 passports now.
 
Only us citizens can apply for us passports. so in essense u are choosing to be an American. However, Hk government has no authority over citizenship, Chinese government does. so with a Hk sar passport, she is essentially Chinese. But how will she know if she wants to be American or not without living there? She will need a visa to go to the US!
 
Yes, she will need a visa to travel to America on the HKSAR passport, that is why we are thinking to get her the American passport now. She is a baby so clearly she wouldn't know if she wants to be American at this age, but we are American so it makes sense for us to consider this.
 
My children were born in the US so have US passports while we don't, since we're EU citizens. Currently they hold both. Our home country is a little weird about 2 passports especially if you haven't lived there for 5 years before you're 18 (which we don't know yet, but hope not). The Americans obviously don't care. Every passport holder 18 yo + (with income, etc.) is a tax payer and the more the merrier, especially these days!
 
Indeed, and it is this tax liability when she is an income earner that is making us deliberate on whether it is a wise move for her to be an American citizen. Not sure what the world is going to be like in 18 years and if being an American is going to be good/better then.

Mom2Sofie&Twins, I suppose your children would be subject to global tax (being Americans) when they are of age?

I am thinking aloud here. Would it be easier to apply for American passport later (before 18) ... or would it be easier to renounce it later (IF it turns out that there are more cons than pros to being an American in 18 years time)? I'll have to check with an legal counsel on this ....
 
Hi Obiwan - Unfortunately my family is full Filipino. My husband is american. I just want to prepare everything for my daughter`s future. Having dual citizenship is a really good thing for her future i think. Thank you for the info btw. :-)
 
please REMEMBER, that even if you hold two passports (if one of them is HKSAR or PRC) the chinese gov't DOES NOT RECOGNISE your other passport.

that means, if you are travelling in china and something happens, you are treated AS A CHINESE citizen... they do not care if you also carry a US passport.

the chinese gov't ONLY recognises the second passport as a travel document and will not recognise "consular" service requests.

(capitals for emphasis, not intende as shouting)
 
agree, we have 2 passports for our baby and just use whichever one suits the circumstances, ie. use the US passport while going to the US and the HK passport going to some places that doesn't require visa with HKSAR passport yet need one with US passport.

many people hold multiple passports, no problem.

and for global tax as US citizens, my husband haven't file tax (US) since graduated from college (he left US soon after that) and so do some of his friends, and no prob indeed.
 
Obiwan said:
Mom2Sofie&Twins, I suppose your children would be subject to global tax (being Americans) when they are of age?

I am thinking aloud here. Would it be easier to apply for American passport later (before 18) ... or would it be easier to renounce it later (IF it turns out that there are more cons than pros to being an American in 18 years time)? I'll have to check with an legal counsel on this ....
Click to expand...

It is way easier to apply for a US passport if born in the US than for the other passport, and since we needed to travel, that's what we did. I still believe it's going to be a big advantage for them, being able to study and live in the US. It's up to them to make that choice. Until 18 it doesn't really matter, so we'll see when time comes. Again, we hope to return to the US. Also our taxes back home are way higher than the US so there is no disadvantage (you're not paying both just the difference). It would be less favorable ending up in a country where taxes are lower, e.g. Hong Kong. I want to keep all options open for them, a EU and US passport is offering them a great opportunity. So far my oldest lived in the US most of her life, the twins in Hong Kong ... so being an EU citizen doesn't mean much at this moment, except that we are.
 
gladyswly said:
and for global tax as US citizens, my husband haven't file tax (US) since graduated from college (he left US soon after that) and so do some of his friends, and no prob indeed.
Click to expand...

He's a US citizen and doesn't pay US taxes? Somebody I know was born in the US, hardly lived there, being super successful, earning very very good money ... and he had to settle with the IRS ... in order to be able to travel to the US.
 
no problem for your husband not filing us tax???? ummmm... i'd say, wait until he tries to move back to the us... they are not exactly known for their leniency when it comes to paying them the taxes that are owed to them. your husband may have a nasty surprise waiting for him.
 
With Cara on this. Never mess with the tax man.

I understand that if one doesn't return to the US, one may be able to get away with not paying tax due. But when you try to enter the country, you might be stopped.....
 
thank God i'm not american! too many taxes for my liking... much better to be canadian.... a LOT of tax, but if you're not resident, you don't have to pay it! ;)
 
Mom2Sofie&Twins said:
I still believe it's going to be a big advantage for them, being able to study and live in the US. It's up to them to make that choice. Until 18 it doesn't really matter, so we'll see when time comes. Again, we hope to return to the US. Also our taxes back home are way higher than the US so there is no disadvantage (you're not paying both just the difference). I want to keep all options open for them, a EU and US passport is offering them a great opportunity.
Click to expand...

Agree, make sense! So when your children turn 18, do they have to pick one citizenship, i.e. renounce the other?
 
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