I’m a Canadian who was born in Hong Kong. My whole family — including everyone on my dad’s side — moved to Canada when I was a kid. At that time, Hong Kong was still under British rule. Since moving, I’ve only been back once, and that was just for three days to visit my sick maternal grandma.
I became eligible for a work-based APRC last month, so I went to the NIA the other day to make an appointment for the application. The staff member who helped me also checked my documents. When she saw that my place of birth is Hong Kong, she asked if I had a Hong Kong ID. I don’t think I do, since I never went back to Hong Kong to get one after we moved. If I ever had a Hong Kong passport, it would’ve expired years ago — I’m not even sure it still exists.
She suggested that I apply for a Hong Kong ID and also get the travel permit for Hong Kong people to visit China (回鄉證). According to her, if I don’t have these documents, my APRC application will likely be rejected because I was born in Hong Kong.
I honestly don’t understand why this is the case, and I was wondering if anyone has had a similar experience. Thanks.
if your parents were British Nationals with sole connection to the UK via HK (not British Citizens, very different) at the time of your birth in HK with PR in HK, then you are a HK person and this status will never be taken away from you.
After HK was transferred to China, most British Nationals with that status (read of Chinese ethnicity) which were not British Citizens lost their UK HK passport and could opt for the BN(O) status and passport and became PRC nationals with PR in HK.
You can request HK passport in any Chinese diplomatic mission abroad, but you need to show your Chinese nationals with HK PR status, and the only way is showing a HK PR ID with the three stars and AZ codes (i.e. right of abode in HK and place of birth HK) which then the Dept of Immigration of HK will confirm your Chinese Nationality.
You can renounce to your Chinese Nationality as a HK PR via declaration to the Director of Immigration as you would select a foreign nationality already in your possession. The certificate they would issue you is effectively proof of renunciation of Chinese Citizenship and relinquishment of the “household registration” in HK as per TW law.
you can do all of this in HK only at Immigration Tower. You will need to get your birth certificate to cause the search into immigration records. Once the HK ID is issued, you can directly apply for the home return permit (that the English name of 回鄉證) and apply if you wish for HK passport.
I really don’t know, shouldn’t be too long though, a few days.
nope, no need, they are not dependent. You can have the home return permit without passport (many do if they don’t need to travel outside of China and are only HK persons). With HK PR ID you can even travel up to 1 years visa free to Macau.
I’m still hoping I won’t have to go through all of that to apply for my APRC. This whole thing is so stressful. The staff member said I could try adding a note explaining my situation with my application, but she wasn’t sure how likely it is to work. Has anyone tried this and actually succeeded?
I’m leaning towards asking for some quick immigration advice from an immigration lawyer if you can.Cos I’m worried that you do all in HK but it still stops you from getting an APRC anyway.
The gist of why is that HK and Macau residents are governed separately by 香港澳門居民進入臺灣地區及居留定居許可辦法. And I believe you aren’t eligible for APRC if you really have HKPR status with Chinese nationality.
If it stops you from getting an APRC, you may have to look into one of the HK routes to stay and eventually get your Taiwan HHR (but at least you won’t have to renounce your Canadian citizenship if that happens).
Alternatively, you will have to renounce like Mataiou mentioned.
You are caught, based on your place of birth, into the web of ROC-on-Taiwan stupidities. These stupidities are not of your making, so no reason to take them personally or to get stressed out.
The key to dealing with this situation is to look coldly at your end goal—to get an APRC as a Canadian citizen living in Taiwan. And to make that happen in the ROC you’ll need to take some steps as outlined by @Mataiou to show you have no ties to HK, in line with what you said about how your life has unfolded. Map this process out step by step, stay calm, enjoy some dim sum and tea in HK when doing the paper work, and above all: keep you eyes on the prize.
This is just frustrating. I just checked the time required for getting a Hong Kong ID, and the earliest appointment date is 96 days later!
I’ve made an appointment with NIA to apply for APRC at the end of December. I’ll include a detailed note explaining my situation as suggested by the staff member who helped me with my appointment. I’ll let you know how it goes.
If it doesn’t work out, I’ll look into the renunciation process. Good thing my current ARC doesn’t expire until the end of 2027.
Do you have a Taiwanese spouse? You can get dual Taiwanese citizenship without renouncing your foreign citizenship
If you do that, then you’ll be stuck on APRC without being able to get Taiwanese citizenship unless you renounce your foreign nationality, so you may want to do some planning
It’s the perceived (not actual) residential ties to HK that are messing up @Shaozhi 's intended APRC application in Taiwan. The perceived ties to HK need to be addressed before @Shaozhi can be treated as a Canadian living in Taiwan, full stop.
I’m saying it may be better to convert to TARC then move on to citizenship than trying to pursue APRC without possibility of citizenship without renunciation of foreign nationality
