I'm an overseas Chinese (born in another country). My mom is a Chinese citizen/passport holder but was likewise born elsewhere. Can I possibly apply for Chinese citizenship?

Please be aware that China does not recognize dual citizenship. Therefore, if you enter China using a Chinese passport, as a Chinese citizen, you cannot utilize the services of your other citizenship with ease (in case of emergency or diaster).

thanks for the post, magnolia! what if i renounce my other citizenship, can i apply for chinese citizenship then? how do i go about it?

I am not sure of the exact process of obtaining Chinese citizenship - sorry I can't be of more help there. However, it may not be necessary for your to renounce your current citizenship (for example, if you are in another country, you would be a citizen of X and a citizen of China at the same time but when in China, you are only a citizen of the country on whose passport you entered China on and the other is not recognized).

I am pretty sure that many countries will permit a Chinese national to become a citizen without formally renouncing Chinese citizenhip but I am not sure if China will permit you to become a citizen without renouncing your original citizenship.

I don't know anyone who has gone through the process you are describing but I would hazzard to say that a google search may be of help or contacting an immigration attorney within China. An immigration attorney within your home country may also be able to give you a rough idea of what the process entails (they would probably be able to locate the information pretty quickly since it is most likely codified somewhere).

Sorry I could not be of more help! Best of luck to you!

to best of my knowledge, applying Chinese citizenship does NOT apply to your case, unless you surrender your current citizenship on the conditions that your mother is a natural Chinese citizen.
for your reference only!

p.s. go to the nearest Chinese embassy or consulate for the official info about Immigration & Naturalization.

thanks magnolia and vek for the advice! i will try to visit the chinese embassy and see what they can do, or maybe find an immigration lawyer in China who can help me.

Cheers!

No offense intended.. but why would you want to apply for chinese citizenship??? Dont even think about it, its not the way to go, if you have a foreign passport you will be treated better than if you hold a chinese passport, you know how chinese treat their ownv kind right? I suggest you think this thru very carefully my dear and good luck with your decision...

I'm also curious as to exactly WHY you would want to do this ... Not sure what foreign country has issued your passport, but I would imagine a PRC passport would generally be more restrictive for you (it does depend on where you have citizenship though).

If you're considering obtaining a PRC passport so you can avoid having to obtain PRC visas (you haven't said this ... but this is something friends have considered who were in similar situations), I would advise that this is NOT a wise idea. The reason is, although you can ENTER the PRC with a PRC passport and stay in China as long as you like without a PRC visa, you cannot EXIT the PRC without a visa issued from a foreign country in your passport, and that may be a bit of a hassle to obtain. Of course, going some place like Hong Kong first might be easy to get a permit for, and then you can use your foreign passport to go anywhere (provided you enter and exit Hong Kong on your foreign passport).

Alternatively, if you tried to exit China with a foreign passport, you'd be stopped since you didn't have a PRC visa in your passport.

There are few countries that have stricter travel restrictions (imposed on them by own government, as well as by other governments) than does China.

Every country you want to go to will require a visa. You didn't mention where you were born, but unless it's a lot more 3rd world (no offence) or you are really patriotic or something I would keep that.

i really appreciate everyone's opinion regarding this citizenship issue, although it seems i'm being discouraged to pursue it (as is always the case)...so, why do i want to become a chinese citizen? because i want to be a communist, that's why! (kidding!) actually, it's a personal decision that i've been considering for several years now. since my country has just recognized dual citizenship (i am aware that dual citizenship is not recognized in china), i just think that it would be practical to have another citizenship , in case something happens and i need to live in china permanently.

Another thing to consider, is that if you were to enter China on your ther countries' passport, the security people here would be acting within Chinese law if they were to arrest you for entering under false documents. That's how they get a lot of their so-called subversives. Potentially, you could be in for a decade of breaking rocks, without trial.

i actually have a question along those lines. I was born in china, but got my US citizenship a few years ago. They never did cancel my chinese passport or anything. Does the US recognize dual citizenship? and could i use my chinese passport to go into china? that way, i don't have to deal with the visas and length of stay. Would they let me back in the US? or how would that work?

shazbot wrote:i actually have a question along those lines. I was born in china, but got my US citizenship a few years ago. They never did cancel my chinese passport or anything. Does the US recognize dual citizenship? and could i use my chinese passport to go into china? that way, i don't have to deal with the visas and length of stay. Would they let me back in the US? or how would that work?

See my message above. This would NOT be a good idea. Yes, you could ENTER China with your Chinese passport, but how would you EXIT the country? Chinese people need visas from other countries to exit, and the Immigration guards would look for a foreign visa in your PRC passport when you attempt to exit. If you don't have one, you're not getting out of the country. Now you could always apply to get a visit permit to Hong Kong or something like that, then enter Hong Kong with your U.S. passport, but I imagine if you did this several times, you'd likely get fined.

If you entered on your PRC passport, and then tried to leave with your U.S. passport, PRC Immigration would also give you trouble as you wouldn't have a valid PRC visa in your U.S. passport.

In response to your dual citizenship question, I know that the U.S. did start allowing people to maintain dual citizenship a few years ago (previously I think it was not allowed), but I'm not sure how this would affect your situation.

I heard a rumor a couple of years ago that the PRC was considering allowing Returnees into China without visas, but I haven't heard any more on that. Would work out well for a lot of people if they decided to do so.

for people who has both chinese passport and a foreign one, keep both. trust me.
think about it, when you are on an airplane, nice and quiet, but all of sudden, you hear this really loud shout-out "everybody put your hands up in the air, allah is fuking great, americans get on left side", now what should you do at this moment? I would throw my US passport right out of window, bad idea, I mean stick it under my butt. and pull out my chinese passport as quickly as possible and yell "my dear arab brothers, me chinese, me love your revolution thing long time". you see, this is why 2 passports could be real handy sometimes.

Well, it might be helpful then ... but they've killed Chinese in the Mideast as well. Who knows - they may be upset about Xinjiang too!

Actually, I'm surprised Mr Bin Laden didn't try to land a Cessna or two on the local version of the Kremlin, considering the Xinjiang occupation.

Keep both passports. In most cases almost every government in the world will recognise dual citizenship, the exceptions do not, I believe, apply in your case. Travel into China on your Chinese passport, and exit the same way. You don't need a visa to leave a country, just to enter one, so use your US passport to go into and out of the US. I do the same thing with my passports, never had a problem.

And what passports do you have?

Chinese cannot leave the country without a visa or permit from a foreign country (or region).

edgewood - you do need a visa to leave china if you are a chinese...anyway, in other places, you do in some sense need a visa to leave, as customs always checks the expiry date on your visa anyway to make sure you are getting out within the time given to you...

and you can't enter on a chinese passport and exit on a foreign one as a quick scan of your foreign pport will reveal that you never arrived in the country (and that you had no visa to be there)...

NY-Viking wrote:Chinese cannot leave the country without a visa or permit from a foreign country (or region).

Reviving an old thread.

Actually there are some countries where Chinese citizens do not need a visa to enter now. You wouldn't need to show a visa in your PRC passport upon exit, so technically you could exit.

Now for those who want to know what those countries are specifically:

VANUATU（瓦努阿图）
TURKS & CAICOS ISL.（特克斯和凯科斯群岛）
ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES（圣文森特和格林纳丁斯）
SEYCHELLES（塞舌尔）
SAMOA（萨摩亚）
NICARAGUA（尼加拉瓜）
NIUE（新西兰属纽埃岛）
MICRONESIA（密克罗尼西亚联邦）
MALDIVES（马尔代夫）
KOSOVO（科索沃）
DOMINICA（多米尼克）
CUBA（古巴）
COOK ISLANDS（库克群岛）
BENIN（贝宁）

By the way Andorra is on the list too but you can't get to Andorra without going to Spain or France first.

I wonder if the original poster ever applied for Chinese citizenship. The application fee is only about 40 RMB.

Deleted for redundancy - sorry, didn't read the whole post.