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Following is a written reply by the Acting Secretary for Security, Mr Lai Tung-kwok, to a question by the Hon Audrey Eu Yuet-mee in the Legislative Council today (February 29):
Question:
It has been learnt that quite a number of Hong Kong residents who have emigrated overseas are very concerned about issues such as their declaration of nationality and their children's right of abode in Hong Kong (ROA), etc. and it has aroused heated discussions in online parent-child discussion forums. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether Hong Kong residents who wish to return to Hong Kong for employment or settlement after emigrating overseas are entitled to ROA; whether they are required to make declaration of change of nationality to the Immigration Department (ImmD); if so, of the reasons; if not, the reasons for that;
(b) of the number of declarations of change of nationality made by Hong Kong residents to ImmD in each year since the handover of sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997;
(c) whether children born overseas to Hong Kong residents who have emigrated overseas and become local residents there are entitled to ROA; if so, of the reasons; if not, the reasons for that; and
(d) of the number of applications for ROA made to ImmD in each year since the handover of sovereignty in 1997 by children born to Hong Kong residents who have emigrated overseas; and the numbers of cases approved and rejected each year?
Reply:
President,
According to section 2A(1) of the Immigration Ordinance (the Ordinance), a Hong Kong permanent resident enjoys the right of abode in Hong Kong. Paragraph 2 of Schedule 1 to the Ordinance provides that a permanent resident of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) is-
(a) a Chinese citizen born in Hong Kong before or after the establishment of the HKSAR;
(b) a Chinese citizen who has ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for a continuous period of not less than seven years before or after the establishment of the HKSAR;
(c) a person of Chinese nationality born outside Hong Kong before or after the establishment of the HKSAR to a parent who, at the time of birth of that person, was a Chinese citizen falling within category (a) or (b);
(d) a person not of Chinese nationality who has entered Hong Kong with a valid travel document, has ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for a continuous period of not less than seven years and has taken Hong Kong as his place of permanent residence before or after the establishment of the HKSAR;
(e) a person under 21 years of age born in Hong Kong to a parent who is a permanent resident of the HKSAR in category (d) before or after the establishment of the HKSAR if at the time of his birth or at any later time before he attains 21 years of age, one of his parents has the right of abode in Hong Kong;
(f) a person other than those residents in categories (a) to (e), who, before the establishment of the HKSAR, had the right of abode in Hong Kong only.
According to paragraph 1(1) of Schedule 1 to the Ordinance, "Chinese citizen" means a person of Chinese nationality under the Nationality Law of the People's Republic of China (the Nationality Law), as implemented in the HKSAR pursuant to Article 18 of and Annex III to the Basic Law and interpreted in accordance with the Explanations of Some Questions by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) Concerning the Implementation of the Nationality Law in the HKSAR adopted at the 19th meeting of the NPCSC at the 8th National People's Congress on May 15, 1996 (the Explanations).
Replies to the four parts of the question are as follows:
(a) According to the Nationality Law and the Explanations, where a Hong Kong resident is of Chinese descent and was born in the Chinese territories (including Hong Kong), or where a person satisfies the criteria laid down in the Nationality Law for having Chinese nationality, he is a Chinese citizen. According to the Ordinance, Hong Kong permanent residents who are Chinese citizens will not lose their permanent resident status.
According to the Nationality Law and the Explanations, all Hong Kong Chinese citizens, irrespective of whether they are holders of foreign passports, may continue to use the relevant documents for the purpose of travelling to other countries and territories. However, they shall not be entitled to consular protection in the HKSAR and other parts of the People's Republic of China on account of their holding the relevant documents. If Hong Kong permanent residents who are Chinese citizens choose to be treated as foreign nationals in the HKSAR, they must make declarations of change of nationality to the Immigration Department (ImmD). Upon approval, they will no longer be regarded as Chinese citizens and can enjoy consular protection from the country of their declared nationality.
(b) Breakdown of the number of declarations of change of nationality from Hong Kong residents who are Chinese citizens received by the ImmD from July 1997 to December 2011 by year is at Annex 1.
(c) According to Article 5 of the Nationality Law, any person born abroad whose parents are both Chinese citizens or one of whose parents is a Chinese citizen shall have Chinese nationality. But a person whose parents are both Chinese citizens and have both settled abroad, or one of whose parents is a Chinese citizen and has settled abroad, and who has acquired foreign nationality at birth shall not have Chinese nationality. Therefore, children born abroad whose parents are Hong Kong permanent residents settled abroad and who have acquired foreign nationality at birth are not Hong Kong permanent residents under paragraph 2(c) of Schedule 1 to the Ordinance.
(d) Any person born outside Hong Kong who meets the relevant legal requirements and claims to be a Hong Kong permanent resident under paragraph 2(b), (c) or (d) of Schedule 1 to the Ordinance above may submit, in accordance with established procedures, application for verification of eligibility for permanent identity card to the ImmD. The ImmD will process the applications in accordance with the law. Breakdown of the number of these applications received, approved and refused from July 1997 to December 2011 by year is at Annex 2.
The ImmD does not maintain statistics in respect of whether the parents of the applicants had emigrated overseas at the time of the applicants' birth.
Ends/Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Issued at HKT 17:11
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