U.S. Citizenship Question for Babies Born in China

[drjtrekker]

Has anyone applied for U.S. citizenship for their child? I am curious about the child’s ability to stay in China if their status changes. For example, I continually need a visa to live here as we all do, but what about the child? I am wondering if it’s a good idea to get this done now, even if there is no current plan to exit.   Any suggestions and info welcomed.  thx!

[Sascha]

Hey there,

The issue is a bit complex, more so than it was when this was written: Nationality but here are the basics:

Yes, you should go and take your birth certificate to the Consulate and report a birth abroad right away, and get your child a US passport. That doesn’t affect your child’s citizenship in China at all YET, but once you have that passport, then the complexities start. If you want to leave China as an American, then you have to first obtain an exit visa from the PSB, easy process with you and your wife there, and then leave the country, return, and your child will be on a visa.

BUT, the new laws on the books as far as I know them state that ANY child born in China to a Chinese mother is Chinese unless they revoke their citizenship. Now, whether or not you revoke citizenship, whether or not you leave (and under which flag) are all things you should go and check out with the PSB (or a lawyer) first. My experience ws a bit harrowing, but that’s because of my own mistakes and the fact that the law changed in July 2013, thereby changing my boys’ statuses without my knowledge.

If you daughter it looks like, was born here and your wife is Chinese, according to the Chinese, she is a Chinese National. Regardless of what the Chinese think, if you are the father, then the US regards your daughter as a US National. Neither nation is big on dual citizenship really, but the Chinese reject the idea outright. Americans, for the most part, “don’t care.”

Let us know how it goes, and what you learn.

[Rick in China]

I’m not entirely sure how I’ll handle this myself, will be good to hear any updates on the subject. My baby has Canadian citizenship papers but not her passport yet (takes a long, long time it seems), and is also registered with a Chinese hukou and passport.. I know in the past you could get around things and maintain both by pretending there was no Chinese registration and exiting on the foreign passport, getting a visa, and tucking the hukou/Chinese passport away in a safe place incase it was intended for later use..but it seems less likely that’s possible given the whole exit visa/revoking paper/default Chinese thing.

[drjtrekker]

Thanks Sasha, I plan to go to the PSB in Huayang where I registered  and get more info and will post it here (rick).

 

[AM]

I’m in chongqing right now applying for a British passport for my son. We got an English and Chinese name on his birth certificate but the hospital called us two weeks ago to tell us that English names aren’t allowed now. If we don’t return the birth certificate by March 10th they’ll revoke his hukou & Chinese ID. So we’ve applied for the British passport now to save hassle later. I don’t plan on using it unless we make a permanent move back to the UK.

[Rick in China]

@AM yeh we were forced to pick a Chinese name to put on her birth cert also – then later can change the ‘official name’ back in Canada and re-issue relevant IDs.

When you say don’t plan on using the UK passport unless permanently moving back to the UK – since your son will require the exit visa, at that point, they’d revoke his hukou & Chinese ID anyways yeh? And the question becomes whether they would deem the child illegally being in China somehow since they had a foreign ID/citizenship issued (date will be in the passport!) but did not properly revoke the Chinese ID, and maybe some sort of penalty or fine or whatever for not going through the process then and getting appropriate visa sorted? No idea, just spitballing, that whole spaghetti shit mess is what I’m mostly concerned with..

[AM]

Rick in China wrote:

@AM yeh we were forced to pick a Chinese name to put on her birth cert also – then later can change the ‘official name’ back in Canada and re-issue relevant IDs. When you say don’t plan on using the UK passport unless permanently moving back to the UK – since your son will require the exit visa, at that point, they’d revoke his hukou & Chinese ID anyways yeh? And the question becomes whether they would deem the child illegally being in China somehow since they had a foreign ID/citizenship issued (date will be in the passport!) but did not properly revoke the Chinese ID, and maybe some sort of penalty or fine or whatever for not going through the process then and getting appropriate visa sorted? No idea, just spitballing, that whole spaghetti shit mess is what I’m mostly concerned with..

How it goes in my head is…apply for a tourist visa for uk, exit china on the tourist visa, use the uk passport to enter the country on arrival. Probably a lot of holes in that idea but I haven’t really thought it through. Talking about at least 5 years from now, who knows what the rules will be like then.

[Rick in China]

@AM RE: “use the uk passport to enter the country on arrival.”

Problem with this is that when you get that tourist visa on the China passport, when they return and want to use that China passport, the entry/exits wont line up. They’ll end up revoking the Chinese citizenship at that point I’m sure…and probably a bunch of f’d up issues around it.

[drjtrekker]

Any updated info on this?

One scenario that I know of is to get the B1 visa for the kids and wife to travel to America. 6 months at a time, valid up to 10 years. I’m sure many already are aware of this.

I hear its easy to do, much easier than applying for the green card. Just need a hukou and passport for everyone.  If I stayed, the kids already have their passport/citizenship due to me…wifey would just have to apply and seems to take at least 3 years from a friend of ours in America doing it now.

Anyone try this way in going home?  Also, heard that the kids don’t need a Chinese passport to leave, although the Guv considers anyone born to a Chinese woman Chinese by nationality, as Sascha spoke of. There is some kind of certificate needed. My guess is the Cancellation of Citizenship, which supposedly takes a couple of years?

I think, as Rick mentioned, the problem would be when the kids return to China, probably couldn’t use their Chinese passport anymore, dunno.

Does anyone have any recent experiences to go along with my ramblings?

 

 

[drjtrekker]

Instead of editing my previous comment, I will just add it here.

The PSB in Dalian told our friend living there with the same situation as us, that children to a mixed marriage are unable to get a passport, just a “transport” paper that is only valid for three months. The children do not need a hukou for this reason. This seems quite odd.  Now checking with a local visa agency and will try the local PSB.

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