[Aritaurus]

Originally Posted by paiste

Hi Aritaurus

I am interested in how you got your RTL. I am probably in a very similiar situation as you. I am currently in HK now and was looking to apply for ROA/RTL, whichever I can get. I am interested in how you filled out your form. Basically, I was born in Australia and at the time of my birth my parents were already Australian citizens. So I therefore am not eligible for ROA. However, my mum does currently have a current HKID, and my dad has a old CI but lost his HKID card. I am about to fill out ROP 145 and was about to apply through 2 (7) which basically says "Persons not of Chinese nationality who were permanent residents of Hong Kong before 1 July 1997 or persons of Chinese nationality who had the right of abode in Hong Kong before the establishment of the HKSAR". I am wondering whether I can apply through this, as my first trip back to HK was in 2004/2005.

Any answers or guidance would be very much appreciated.

I applied under category seven as well. If your parents were born in Hong Kong , it should be fine. I think 2 (7) is for people like us trying to apply for RTL under the grounds that we're descendents of British dependent territory citizens. Before 1997, we were were entitled to the Right of abode because we would be considered British Dependent Territory Citizens so this category would apply best to us.

[paiste]

Hi

I am wondering whether someone can help me with RTL application and filling in the form.

If I apply under category 7 of section 2, what should I put under section 4 (1) and 4 (2)?. As I have never lived permanently in Hong Kong but I have been back for holidays but each time for no longer than 3 months. Do I need to put in the time I went back for holidays? How about section 4 (2), where it asks whether there was a continuous absence for more than 6 months and the reason. What should I put in here? I was absent from Hong Kong becuase I never permanently lived there!!!!???


Many thanks

[theABC]

it's been many months since I made the initial post. I got accepted as ROA since one of my parents was not a perm resident in the US when I was born.

My sister did not get accepted and was given RTL. Now with RTL does she get an ID card or some kind of stamp on her passport???

We're arriving in HK tommorrow.. and I have an appointment to get my ID card on Monday.

Quite frankly, I thought they could not prove my mother was a perm resident. My mother entered the US as a visitor..... and I was born after they married. Then they applied for mom to be become a permanent resident years later. My mom never had a green card.... and she somehow became a us citizen a couple years AFTER my sister was born.

My parents insisted my mom was a permanent resident... but I argued.. how could the HK govn't prove that? My mom was clearly a visitor to the US and her HK passport was clearly stamped visitor upon entry.... she had no green card to prove that... unlike my dad. Additionally, my dad's passport was clearly stamped with immigration visa upon arrival to the US, but my mom had not proof to show permanent resident. My parents INSISTED to write that down on the application. I was very peeved.

anyways.. my sister was given RTL status. I wanted to appeal, as the HK immigration sent a letter given a date for an appeal hearing if desired. but alas... my sister and my parents had no interest. Can she just reapply for ROA?

[PDLM]

RTL gives you the right to live and work in HK without restriction. Why exactly is the difference between that and ROA so important?

[DamienKSC]

Recovering an old post I have just been through this process over two years. I was on exchange at HKUST and manage to apply for Right of Abodement HKID. The immigration office was quite nice, I said I planned on coming back to Hong Kong after I had graduated from University back in the UK and he seemed to waive the 7 year naturalisation rule. When you apply for an HKID as an adult you should be automatically entitled to 3 stars, right of abodement now, well according to the immigration officer.
After graduation I left for Beijing to teach English and left for Hong Kong after the expiration of my visa to extend my visa and apply for my home return permit. Having ROA on your HKID entitles you to a home return permit, that is if you're Chinese, but first you must apply for a HKSAR passport before applying for home return permit. ROA will automatically entitle you to HKSAR passport, so you can have dual nationality depending on the other passport you hold. However, you have to have a Chinese name on your HKID so your HKSAR passport will have a Chinese written name. If you don't have a Chinese name then you are not considered Chinese and you're application for home return permit will fail. I had this problem but was luckily informed by the officers when applying for my HKSAR passport who knew I wanted a home return permit and saw the omitted Chinese characters. I had to pay extra obviously to add my Chinese name and you know how long the queues can be for the HKID card. Applying for the HKSAR passport is quick and easy, makes it easier if you write down an address and number of a relative and get your relative to retrieve it for you because there is a normally a window of two months from issue date for you to collect your hkid and hksar passport, after which they terminate the application and documents (but from what I know my HK friends of Indian decent say it doesn't matter as they've collected their documents after the window).
Any change for HKID card takes about 7 working days and HKSAR passport took around 10 days (they say normally around a month), applying abroad is a lot longer than doing it in person but is convenient if you don't have the time to stay in Hong Kong and want to get your Home Return Permit quickly.
As for Home return permit takes about five working days for the quick application process, I think Saturday is also a working day. Costs about 600 HKD for that and about 400 for the HKSAR passport.
The Home Return Permit application is in Chinese, no English so bring a relative along if you, like me, find the reading and writing aspect somewhat challenging.

Saved me lots of money and time because I am working in Beijing. You can only get one month visas from Hong Kong and so you need to extend your visa in China, two times max per visa. You can get longer visas from other countries and still extend at least twice. You could instead get an F visa (business visa) by applying from different visa agencies, many are cheaper than getting a normal L (tourist) visa from the consulate. F visas can be up to one year long, normally 3 to 6 months though. It is more expensive to apply for this F visa in visa agencies in China, around 1500 more expensive, so it's worth getting one in Hong Kong.

[aBeeCee]

Hi All,
i was wondering if anyone could help me out here as I am getting confused about whether i can apply for a RTL.
Basically i just want to be able to work in Hong Kong and i think having even an RTL will help my prospects.

I am an Australian Born Chinese and my father was born in Hong Kong and moved to Australia in 1977. In 1980 he became a citizen of Australia but i dont think he ever renounced his HK citizen status. I was born in 1981 so at the time of my birth he was already an Australian citizen.

Has anyone had a similar experience?

Does anyone know if i can apply for RTL? and if i can apply, do i have to physically bring all the documents and show up to the Wan Chai Immi Office? Or are there options to apply from Australia? What form do i have to fill in?

Any help would be great!

[Hairball]

Originally Posted by aBeeCee

Hi All,
i was wondering if anyone could help me out here as I am getting confused about whether i can apply for a RTL.
Basically i just want to be able to work in Hong Kong and i think having even an RTL will help my prospects.

I am an Australian Born Chinese and my father was born in Hong Kong and moved to Australia in 1977. In 1980 he became a citizen of Australia but i dont think he ever renounced his HK citizen status. I was born in 1981 so at the time of my birth he was already an Australian citizen.

Has anyone had a similar experience?

Does anyone know if i can apply for RTL? and if i can apply, do i have to physically bring all the documents and show up to the Wan Chai Immi Office? Or are there options to apply from Australia? What form do i have to fill in?

Any help would be great!

I'm in a similar situation, as I'm Canadian born to parents with HK ROA. The laws are incredibly complicated.

But one thing's for sure, you must be in Hong Kong legally (i.e. come as a visitor), on the date of your application. Once you're there, submit the ROP145 form. They may ask you for more information subsequently, and you'll get an interview (although I'm not at this step yet).

I think you'd probably get RTL unless you've been to HK every 36 months since 1997. Based on the nationality law, you probably will not have Chinese nationality based on the fact that you obtained a foreign citizenship at birth. So you should apply under the category that you have had ROA before 1997.

It's just a mess.

[Hairball]

I'm not sure why I couldn't start a new thread, but I'll just post what I wanted to say here....



I'm a 22 year old CBC with parents who were born in Hong Kong, and hold HKSAR passports (which means they are Chinese citizens in China), but they also hold Canadian citizenship, based on the a certain exception. (The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region - Immigration Department)

I was born before both parents became Canadian citizens. As I was born in Canada, I obtained Canadian nationality at birth, which means I probably do not hold Chinese nationality.

I have submitted my ROP145 Application for Verification of Eligibility for Permanent Identity Card, and I was recently asked to submit extra forms, to assist with the application, and copies of my parents' BTDC passports, landing papers, Canadian naturalization documents, and the dates of my parents' and my own stays of Hong Kong.

Based on my various research of the ambiguous HK immigration laws, I am probably not eligible for ROA, since I have been away from HK for more than 36 months since 1997. So it means I'd probably get RTL.

Is the process almost over? I read from a post from Aritaurus that he/she was approved the next day.

Originally Posted by Aritaurus

Yep, that's pretty much exactly what I had to go through to get my HKID. It's pretty straight forward as long you have all the documents they ask for.

After you send in all the photocopies, they will send you a letter letting you know whether you have been approved or not. If you're approved, they will ask you to come in person for an interview to have all the original copies verified. Once that's done, the immigration officer will put an endorsement on your passport saying that you have unconditional stay and you'll get your picture taken and get your temporary HKID on the same day.

I'd like to leave Hong Kong soon because I'd like to go to my university convocation if possible. If it takes longer, I guess I'll stay in HK and get it done first.

I have not met an immigration officer in person yet, but I have contact information and a phone number of the case officer.

And for the "original documents" which ones did you have to bring in? I have my original short and long form Canadian birth certificates, but some of the other documents are back in Canada with my parents.

Sorry that this is long, but basically, the question is, how long will it be until I can apply for the actual ID card?

[Aritaurus]

Originally Posted by Hairball

I'm in a similar situation, as I'm Canadian born to parents with HK ROA. The laws are incredibly complicated.

But one thing's for sure, you must be in Hong Kong legally (i.e. come as a visitor), on the date of your application. Once you're there, submit the ROP145 form. They may ask you for more information subsequently, and you'll get an interview (although I'm not at this step yet).

I think you'd probably get RTL unless you've been to HK every 36 months since 1997. Based on the nationality law, you probably will not have Chinese nationality based on the fact that you obtained a foreign citizenship at birth. So you should apply under the category that you have had ROA before 1997.

it's just a mess.

It's actually very straight forward. If you were born outside of Hong Kong and acquired the citizenship of another country and one or both of your parents were settled outside of Hong Kong at the time you were born (holding a Permanent Residence status or Citizenship of that country), you must be able to satisfy all three of these conditions.

1) You were born outside of Hong Kong before 1 July 1997 and at least one of your parents were born in Hong Kong.

2) Your parent(s) are Hong Kong Permanent Identity Card holders.

3) Satisfy the immigration officer that you were a British Dependent Territory Citizen by descent - you had an automatic entitlement to this if at least one of your parents were born in Hong Kong. Once this is established, you'll be considered a non-chinese citizen who had the right of abode then lost it for being absent from Hong Kong for more than 36 months and you'll be given the right to land.

[aBeeCee]

Originally Posted by Aritaurus

It's actually very straight forward. If you were born outside of Hong Kong and acquired the citizenship of another country and one or both of your parents were settled outside of Hong Kong at the time you were born (holding a Permanent Residence status or Citizenship of that country), you must be able to satisfy all three of these conditions.

1) You were born outside of Hong Kong before 1 July 1997 and at least one of your parents were born in Hong Kong.

2) Your parent(s) are Hong Kong Permanent Identity Card holders.

3) Satisfy the immigration officer that you were a British Dependent Territory Citizen by descent - you had an automatic entitlement to this if at least one of your parents were born in Hong Kong. Once this is established, you'll be considered a non-chinese citizen who had the right of abode then lost it for being absent from Hong Kong for more than 36 months and you'll be given the right to land.

Hiya, is it ok if my dad hasnt got a current Permanent HKID. He just never went back to get one. My father was definitely born in Hong Kong and has a British Overseas Territories Citizen Passport which expired in 1986. I am hoping that because my father had this Passport and an old HK ID that i can say that i once had the right of abode but lost it and should be granted the right to land.
Am i making sense?