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What nationality is my child?

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Shanghai Expat Forum Index » Hot Topics Forums » Visas, Taxes, and Legalities

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overh20

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Joined: June 23, 2009
Posts: 124

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Posted: Sep 02, 2009 - 10:41 AM

Misteral wrote:

Either register your child at an American consulate and apply for a US passport or register him/her with the relevant Chinese authority as a Chinese citizen. Almost impossible to have dual nationality with China. If you choose Chinese any subsequent children you have will be American, unless you go through the rigmarole of changing the nationality of the first born from Chinese to American.

Wrong. It is totally possible for the child to have two nationalities ... if not more.

Any child born to at least one Chinese parent in China is automatically considered Chinese. There are no exceptions.

After the child is born you take the birth certificate and the Chinese parent's ID card & hukou book to the local police station and have the child entered in the Chinese parent's hukou book. You can then obtain a Chinese passport for the child if you wish. Failure to register the child's hukou, though, does not negate the child's de facto Chinese citizenship.

At any time you can also take the child to the US Consulate and obtain evidence of the child's US citizenship. It's best to do this while the child is a newborn because if you wait they will likely force you to obtain very expensive DNA testing. Once the consular officer is satisfied the child is entitled to US citizenship, you will obtain a Consular Report of Birth Abroad and, if you desire, a US passport for the child. The Chinese government has no way of knowing you have done this and the fact that you have done it does not in any way cause the child to lose their Chinese nationality.

If you want the child to maintain dual nationality, you must use a third country or Hong Kong as a staging area for all your international travel. There is no way around it as a) a US citizen can never be issued a US visa and b) it is a felony for a US citizen to enter or leave the US on anything but a US passport.

If you want to give up the child's Chinese nationality, you follow the steps provided by a previous poster. Be advised that from that moment on your child will need to have a valid visa to enter and remain in China and also have issues with local schooling.

fWerrF

Rocker

Joined: Aug 31, 2009
Posts: 703
Location: New York, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Bangkok
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Posted: Sep 04, 2009 - 11:08 AM

I read this on the US Consulate website, when I was poking around for info on add pages to my passport.
If you are US citizen, your baby is born in China, you can go to US Consulate, with your passport and the mother's passport, the Consulate will issue US passport for the baby, so one day he can leave China for USA.

createhappiness

Newbie

Joined: Oct 12, 2009
Posts: 7

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Posted: Oct 25, 2009 - 01:42 AM

Back to basic subject....What nationality is my child?

I am American. Future mother is Turkish. Live in Shanghai. Do we choose between American and Turkish?

overh20

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Joined: June 23, 2009
Posts: 124

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Posted: Oct 25, 2009 - 06:29 AM

Why choose when you can have both?

skaaght

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Joined: Sep 27, 2009
Posts: 78

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Posted: Oct 25, 2009 - 03:16 PM

Misteral wrote:

Sorry, but could you elaborate on how the nationality of the oldest child would effect any later children? Every child born to an american would be eligible for citizenship regardless of older siblings.

Maybe you are saying it would be tough to move to USA with one child being a chinese citizen?

leidelaohu

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Joined: June 11, 2007
Posts: 5743

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Posted: Oct 25, 2009 - 04:09 PM

skaaght wrote:

Sorry, but could you elaborate on how the nationality of the oldest child would effect any later children?

S/he's talking about the ramifications of the one-child policy which some people say is now being applied to half-foreign, half-domestic families.

That subject is beyond the skills of those present to discuss.

Turkish

Squeeker

Joined: Oct 15, 2009
Posts: 10
Location: Jiaxing
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Posted: Oct 25, 2009 - 04:11 PM

createhappiness wrote:

Back to basic subject....What nationality is my child?

I am American. Future mother is Turkish. Live in Shanghai. Do we choose between American and Turkish?

He/she can have both nationalities as long as you register her/him at the both embassies. Please note that if your baby is a male, he needs to complete his military service in Turkey which is a must (for now).

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skaaght

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Joined: Sep 27, 2009
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Posted: Oct 25, 2009 - 04:29 PM

leidelaohu wrote:

skaaght wrote:

Sorry, but could you elaborate on how the nationality of the oldest child would effect any later children?

Ahh, right. forgot about that!

skaaght

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Joined: Sep 27, 2009
Posts: 78

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Posted: Oct 25, 2009 - 04:31 PM

createhappiness wrote:

Back to basic subject....What nationality is my child?

I am American. Future mother is Turkish. Live in Shanghai. Do we choose between American and Turkish?

This is tough to answer as it is up to YOU!
Your child is automatically American if you want it, and from other posters sounds like the same is true of Turkish. Just a matter of filling out correct papers!

overh20

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Joined: June 23, 2009
Posts: 124

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Posted: Oct 25, 2009 - 05:03 PM

leidelaohu wrote:

skaaght wrote:

Sorry, but could you elaborate on how the nationality of the oldest child would effect any later children?

Fact: In certain provinces it is applied to families where one of the parents is an expat.

Enforcement of the one-child-policy is pretty much left to the discretion to provincial authorities with considerable pressure from beijing for those provinces which fail to meet the family planning target.

In Guangdong, for example, even if one of the parents is an expat, they are still bound by the one-child-policy. The same is true in, if not mistaken, Zhe Jiang province. In various other provinces you are cut some slack, but it is a decision made and enforced by the individual provinces.

US citizens can call the US Embassy or local US Consulate for details as they are well aware of the shift in enforcement of the policy in their respective regions.

In Guangdong, for example, if the first child is considered Chinese nationality, you are not given permission to have a second child. If the first is an expat and doesn't have Chinese hukou, you can have a second.

It is important to understand that any child born into a fanily with at least one Chinese parent is automatically considered Chinese. You need to go through formalities to renounce their Chinese citizenship.

leidelaohu

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Joined: June 11, 2007
Posts: 5743

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Posted: Oct 25, 2009 - 08:35 PM

overh20 wrote:

Fact: In certain provinces it is applied to families where one of the parents is an expat.

So for all intents and purposes you can have one Chinese child. If it's the first one, that will be the only one. If you renounce that child's chinese citizenship and hukou you may continue. Screw, renounce, extrude a new one. Repeat until done. Last one can be chinese and foreign both.

What if you adopt ?

overh20

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Joined: June 23, 2009
Posts: 124

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Posted: Oct 25, 2009 - 09:33 PM

leidelaohu wrote:

overh20 wrote:

Fact: In certain provinces it is applied to families where one of the parents is an expat.

That's the way it works. Again, though, it depends on the province. In Guangdong and, I believe, Zhe Jiang Province and one or more others, it's as you've described. In others they may still have the informal agreement to leave expats alone.

leidelaohu wrote:

What if you adopt ?

That I have no idea about. I have heard, but not able to substantiate, that adopting a child does not get you around the one-child-policy.

laundry

Lurker

Joined: Oct 04, 2009
Posts: 30

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Posted: Oct 25, 2009 - 11:05 PM

sounds logic, the child was already born, is not yours biologically, the procreation act. Wink

overh20

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Joined: June 23, 2009
Posts: 124

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Posted: Oct 26, 2009 - 07:05 AM

laundry wrote:

sounds logic, the child was already born, is not yours biologically, the procreation act. Wink

Please translate that into English.

I have heard the policy is that if you already have a child you cannot adopt one. And if you have no children and then adopt one, you cannot later have your own child.