Australian birth certificate and passport

T

Tracey Nicole

Banned
hi there,

my baby will be born in the next four days and i am keen to formalise her certificate and passport asap.

can anyone advise me of the correct / shortest process to get things organised?

many thanks and kind regards,

Trace
 
The way I've heard it is that you need to do three things, one after another:

1 - get the Hong Kong birth cert
2 - apply for Australian citizenship
3 - apply for Australian passport

You can't do one step until you've completed the previous step.

I'm gonna be watching this thread - coz my baby is due in October and we're going back to Oz for Christmas so I don't have that long to get everything organised!!
 
I'm in the same situation too, our baby is due Xmas Eve and we are moving back to Australia in March.

These links from the Australian Embassy Website provide alot of information (www.hongkong.china.embassy.gov.au )

http://www.hongkong.china.embassy.gov.au/hkng/files/VISMG_CtzDescent_cl.pdf
http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/pdf/118.pdf
http://www.hongkong.china.embassy.gov.au/hkng/SRVAU_MinrPp.html

It takes 10 working days to process the citizenship application. I'm still reading through all the doc's so not sure how long the passport application will take.
 
We've been through this process earlier in the year, and the steps are as nicolejoy outline above:

1. Get the birth certificate - the hospital should give you the info of where to go for this and a list of documents to take. Only one parent needs to go if you are married, and it will be processed in an hour or two.
2. Apply for Australian citizenship by descent (assuming that one or both parents are Australian citizens). This takes 10 working days to process. You will need a photo of the baby and for the form to be signed by someone who is a lawyer, teacher, etc (the usual list - check the form for details). For the citizenship application, they're not as picky re the photo as they are for the passport.
3. Apply for the Australian passport - I did this when I picked up the citizenship certificate, so needed to have all the forms ready as well as photos of the baby (they are very particular about these! Read the info they will give you) and the necessary witness signatures. Again, it takes 10 working days to process.
4. Obtain the HK visa in the passport from Immigration. A few more forms to complete as well as provide baby's birth certificate, your marriage certificate, parents' HKID cards, copies of visa stickers in your passport (I might be missing something here, but they will tell you at Immigration). Once you have all the necessary paperwork, this should be processed in a few hours.

For the passport photos, I went to one of the photo shops in Central and held my baby up so they could take the photo. They then used Photoshop or similar software to remove my hand from the photo. I know of others who've managed to take a photo of the baby when they are lying on a white sheet, but I tried numerous times and never got a decent photo myself.

Good luck with the delivery!!
 
Hi tstmum,

Regarding the HK visa, is there a certain time period where you must apply for visa once the baby is born. I wasn't going to bother seeing we are leaving HK end of March (baby due Dec 24th).
 
karmah1 said:
Hi tstmum,

Regarding the HK visa, is there a certain time period where you must apply for visa once the baby is born. I wasn't going to bother seeing we are leaving HK end of March (baby due Dec 24th).
Click to expand...

Sorry, not sure about this. When you get the birth certificate they give you a form that indicates how long the baby is permitted in HK. The date will be whatever is on your HK visa. This would probably be sufficient, but best to check with Immigration.
 
Hi, Do anyone know if we can apply for more than 2 visas?
My baby will be born in HK in October, but my husband is American and I am French. We'd like to be able to give our son as many citizenships as possible, but I don't know if 3 will be too many... I have been on several websites but none of them give any information regarding this topic, and I am reluctant to ask too many questions to the relevant authorities (we might end up giving it a try by applying for visas in all 3 places, and see what happens...)
Is anyone in our situation?
Elodie.
 
Elodie

From what I know I think its up to the authorites of each country to decide on dual citizenships. I am Australian but hold dual citizenship/passports for Australia and the UK and have a HK Visa. I was born in Australia and have an Australian mother but English father. I would like my baby to have both Australian and UK citizenship too. I think with Americans it may be more difficult but I'm not sure. I had my Australian passport first before applying for my UK passport and never had any questions asked, I simply filled in the application and sent it off. I would apply to one country first and recieve the passport/citizenship before applying for the second one.


TSTmum - thanks very much I have just had my visa renewed for 2 years so that should give us plenty of time, but I will double check.
 
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