Forum China

[colinabroad]

Hi all, I have been trawling the web for a while now trying to find the answer to this question. I have been living and working in China for seven years now, got married three years ago and now have a beautiful 9 month old daughter who is eager to go visit her Grandparents in the UK. She has a Chinese passport, Hong Kong visa, is registered in her mums Houkou and we are waiting for her ID card to arrive any day now, but.............
She is also a British Citizen by right as I am her British Father. However, I am aware that (currently) China does not recognise dual nationality although the UK does. I have been researching the best options for her as we actaully intend to stay in China and raise her here, however, the benefits of having a UK Passport - even just for travelling are quite good. I have I think three options for her right now (apart from doing nothing)
1: Apply for a UK Passport and keep it under cover
2: Apply for a certificate of entitlement to the right of abode in the UK
3: Apply for a UK visa in her Chinese passport

I have read somewhere, but cannot now find it, that some parents bring their children out of China on their Chinese Passport and then switch to the UK one when getting on a plane from Hong Kong - we are close to HK, so would go out that way. However, I have also read that if the Chinese Govn't get to hear about her UK Passport they will take away her Chinese citizenship and remove her from her mothers houkou leaving her stranded in a foreign country where she will need to apply for a visa every year to live (like me). Her HK visa also only allows 7 days stay and we would like to visit our grandparents for longer than that.
We would prefer to keep her Chinese citizenship for now, so are in a dilema as to what to do and would welcome advice from parents in a similar situation.
If we apply for a right to abode I think a certificate would go in her Chinese passport, but I am unsure how the Chinese Government will react to this as it is in effect declaring her British Citizenship?

I hope someone can unravel this dilema for us as we would like to visit the UK sometime over the summer.

Thanks a lot,

[chenxueren]

Hi,
I am in a very similar situation to you, only I am planning on going to the UK with a Chinese passport and getting my half Chinese baby British citizenship when we get there. I was wondering what you did in the end and how it worked. If you got a British visa on a Chinese passport which type of visa did you apply for?
Any suggestions would be great.