[Aritaurus]

Originally Posted by aBeeCee

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?

I'm not entirely sure because when I applied, my parents just got their HKIDs renewed. I would contact the immd to see your parent's HKIDs need to be valid when you apply.

Since your father was born in Hong Kong and has an old BDTC passport, you should be able to obtain the right to land.

[Hairball]

How long did it takes to get your application approved after you submitted the copies of your parents' documents?

I called today (it's been 3 weeks since I applied), they said I can go next week to bring in the originals of my parents' documents, but I don't have all the originals with me because I didn't know it was needed.

I could possibly extend my stay in HK, and get the docs mailed over, but once they look at the originals, will I be approved on the spot, or would I still need to make another visit.

I want to leave for Canada ASAP.

[seatown]

I am an ABC who got his Perm. ID two years ago. When I applied for my HKID card in 2005, one of the immigration officers told me that ROP145 was for mainland Chinese residents. I was told to fill out ID881: Application for Certificate of Entitlement to the Right of Abode in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region - Immigration Department

My friend just applied for ROA using ROP145 and was rejected on the grounds that he was not from mainland China.

You are right that you'll get RTL unless you've not been away from HK for over 36 months since 1997. Luckily, I made frequent trips to HK after 1997.

Nationality is not dependent on what citizenship you have at birth. Nationality is dependent on your parents immigration status at the time of your birth. If one of your parents was not yet naturalized (student or visitor), you are a Chinese national. Of course, you need documented proof of this. (In the form of the immigration visa stamps on your parent's passport before your birth). Yes, they will ask to see every relevant piece of documentation.

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.

[Aritaurus]

Originally Posted by Hairball

How long did it takes to get your application approved after you submitted the copies of your parents' documents?

I called today (it's been 3 weeks since I applied), they said I can go next week to bring in the originals of my parents' documents, but I don't have all the originals with me because I didn't know it was needed.

I could possibly extend my stay in HK, and get the docs mailed over, but once they look at the originals, will I be approved on the spot, or would I still need to make another visit.

I want to leave for Canada ASAP.

I got my photo taken and got my temporary HKID issued the very same day I got interviewed. During the interview, the immigration officer just checked all my documents and that was pretty much it.

I would get the documents mailed over asap. It shouldn't take long from this point.

[Aritaurus]

Originally Posted by seatown

Nationality is not dependent on what citizenship you have at birth. Nationality is dependent on your parents immigration status at the time of your birth. If one of your parents was not yet naturalized (student or visitor), you are a Chinese national. Of course, you need documented proof of this. (In the form of the immigration visa stamps on your parent's passport before your birth). Yes, they will ask to see every relevant piece of documentation.

It actually depends on whether your parents were subject to any condition of stay in the foreign country at the time you were born. If they had a permanent residency visa, they would be considered settled and their children will not have Chinese nationality. So if a child was born in the US to parents of Chinese nationality who held green cards but not US Citizenship, the child would have no claim to Chinese nationality.

Article 5: Any person born abroad whose parents are both Chinese nationals or one of whose parents is a Chinese national shall have Chinese nationality. But a person whose parents are both Chinese nationals and have both settled abroad, or one of whose parents is a Chinese national and has settled abroad, and who has acquired foreign nationality at birth shall not have Chinese nationality.

[MisterJJ]

This thread has been immensely helpful for my RTL application, so I wanted to share my own experience here for future reference.

Background:

I was born in Sydney, Australia; immigrated to Vancouver, Canada in my teens. My mother was born in HK and father was born in China. Mother was NOT a citizen of Australia when I was born, but already had acquired indefinite stay status in Australia at the time of my birth. Father was Australian citizen already.

Timeline:

• Arrived in HK 22 Jul 2008. Personally went to the Immigration Department Right of Abode Section in Wanchai to submit my application to save postal time. The officer at the reception counter advised me that the application usually takes 6-8 weeks. I told him that I could not wait that long as I was only staying in HK for four weeks. He told me to include a letter with my application explaining why my application should be given priority, but could not guarantee anything. He also gave me a application package which is more than just the ROP145 form; it had some extra forms and it would be advisable to fill those out too to ensure that your application is complete as possible.

• 24 Jul 2008: Received a notice through the mail acknowledging the receipt of application. Notice has application reference number as well as the telephone number of the officer who handles your case (Very useful). The notice also advises you not to call them to check on the progress of your application unless it is an 'emergency'.

• 1 Aug 2008: Receive a letter from the Immigration Department requesting MORE documents. I get my brother to scan copies of these documents and email them to me so I can submit them. I get him to also courier them over. I am also asked to elaborate on my (complicated) migration history. Once again, to save time, I personally delivered my documents to the ROA Office in Wanchai.

• (Thursday AM) 14 Aug 2008: Supplementary documentation submitted, but still no letter for interview and I was due to leave the following Monday. I was debating whether I should call to check on my application (Was it really an 'emergency'?), but did so in the end (Glad I did). Called the number on my application receipt card and got straight through to the officer handling my file. He asked me for my application number and was very nice about it (Didn't question me about why I was bugging him). He told me that my RTL application was basically approved and he just had to tie up a few loose ends. He originally asked me to come in on Friday (next day) for the interview, but then called me later in the day and said that he could see me.

• (Thursday PM) 14 Aug 2008: Went to see the officer at the Immigration Department in Wanchai. He gave me the letter explaining the outcome of the application and a tag number for another officer to 'interview' me. The 'interview' is basically for the officer to see the originals of the documents that you have submitted. I was asked to produce my passport, birth certificate, my mother's birth certificate, her BDTC passport with relevant pages, my parent's marriage certificate, their naturalization certificates, my naturalization certificate. They verify them with the originals and I suspect that they also try to verify the authenticity of them as well. There was a whole lot of other documentation that they asked for copies of, but never asked me to produce originals (waste of courier money!!!). When they are satified that everything is complete, they will ask you to wait and they do two things: they stick a notice in your passport cancelling any conditions of stay in HK (hence you are able to work/stay in HK indefinitely from that point on), and they give you a letter that allows you to go to the Registration of Persons Office to get your actual ID card. This whole process took me about an hour. I was not able to get my ID card right away as it was already late in the day.

• 15 August 2008. I went to a nearby Registration of Persons Office to get my Smart Card. It is advised that you make an appointment, but I was not able to due to my tight timeline. They do, however, handle a certain number of 'walk-in' clients, but you have to make sure that you are early so that you make the walk-in quota for the day. The whole walk-in process took me about two hours. You must have your passport and letter from Immigration (It also says you need your birth certificate, but I never had to produce it). Also, if you will not be able to collect your ID card (It does take 10 working days - and I was leaving in two days), you should fill in the form to authorize someone to pick up your card. If you do not collect your card within the time they give you, you will have to apply all over again for your ID card.

I was able to indeed complete the whole process within four weeks. The HK Government staff are extremely nice, polite, helpful and efficient. As previous posters have mentioned, if you do not get your interview letter, you can always pick up from where you left off on your next trip to HK. The following also helps:

• Having a cell phone contact in HK. My officer was able to call me right away if they needed anything. It's not expensive to get a SIM card in HK.

• Not mailing anything, but personally delivering everything to save time and not have to worry about anything being lost in the post.

• If you forget to bring a piece of documentation, get someone to scan it and email to you so that you can submit your documentation right away.

• Being polite and speaking Cantonese. Yes, there are people who still can be mean even when you are nice (eg. the photocopying lady on 6th floor), but I think it goes a long way.

• With regards to documentation, they will want to see copies of everything under the sun, but previous posters have already outlined pretty much everything you will need to bring with you.

Regarding my application decision: As stated already in this thread, due to the fact that mother had acquired indefinite stay in Australia at the time of my birth, I could only acquire RTL, even though she was still a BDTC at that time. The other factor was that I did not return to settle in HK before Jan 1998 and hence I was ineligible for ROA. But like others have said before, it really makes little difference.

Hope this info helps.

[STB]

Congratulations!

I noticed that IMMD can ask you all sorts of documentations. The burden of proof really lies on the applicant. If you don't have it, you just need to explain in writing why.

In my case, the photo on my old BDTC passport was severely damaged by water stains. The photo image is pratically gone. They ask me to write an explanation, and they accepted it.

But not without asking me to provide something else, like several ID with pictures when I was younger.

IMMD may "frustrate" some applicants, but if you are really qualified to get a ROA/RTL, then there shouldn't be any problems.

My dealings with IMMD is nothing compared to the difficulties I went thru in a getting a US B1/B2 Visa on a Philippine Passport. Some of my friends didn't have a chance to speak! Talk about moody.