Equal rights for loyalist overseas Chinese

[mhell]

I am an overseas Chinese born outside China but maintain my Chinese citizenship since birth hoping to return back to my ancestral land someday. I was told I can not apply for permanent residency for the main reason I don't have direct relative here in China. I am holding a Chinese travel permit that allows me to stay for a maximum of two years but can not engage in small business or acquire employment.

Since a Chinese travel permit is equivalent to a Chinese passport (as stated in the document), how come many banks does not acknowlege this document? And why am I being limited to stay in my own country??? I believe I should have equal rights as other Chinese nationals does!

[LeafAndSunshine]

Hi mhell,

I think you are probably in a unique situation. I don't understand how you could

have maintained your Chinese citizenship if you were not born in China. Do you

have a parent who is currently a Chinese citizen? Most importantly, does your

mother currently hold a valid Chinese passport? From what you've told us, you

don't seem to have a parent who is still legally a Chinese citizen. Since China

does not allow dual citizenship, you cannot legally be a Chinese citizen if you

are currently holding another citizenship. I think what the Chinese travel permit

says about "being equivalent to a Chinese passport" is only in the context of

travelling, and legally speaking, you are a foreigner. The Chinese citizenship law

is very strict about who can be given the Chinese citizenship. I'm really sorry

for your situation, the law was written decades ago and I think it's very

outdated. Hopefully the law will be changed in the near future to allow multiple

citizenships so you can be given what's rightfully yours by birth.

LnS

[mhell]

Thank you for your sympathy and taking time to give me a reply. Really appreciated it.

Well, my grandparents originated from China and migrated to the Philippines sometime in the year 1920's. Just like me, both my parents were also born there and did not give up their Chinese citizenship. There's a law in the Philippines states that we have to choose which nationality to possses at the age of 21 (if i am not mistaken). So, we were all considered as foreigners in the country. We never had any other country's passport or nationality other than Chinese. Would you believe, my grandmother (mother side) still maintain her Chinese citizenship untill now at the age of 94? My father later did changed into naturalized born Filipino, but my mother and I plan of returning to China so we remain the same.

Taiwan has the same policy with China. So we really don't know where do we belong? Where to settle down? It's like we're nobody's child.

[LeafAndSunshine]

Hi mhell,

Here is the citizenship law of the People's Republic of China (or China):

1. This law is applicable to the acquisition, loss and restoration of nationality of the [[People's Republic of China]].

2. The People's Republic of China is a unitary multinational state; persons belonging to any of the [[Nationalities of China|nationalities in China]] shall have Chinese nationality.

3. The People's Republic of China does not recognize dual nationality for any Chinese national.

4. Any person born in China whose parents are both Chinese nationals or one of whose parents is a Chinese national shall have Chinese nationality.

5. Any person born abroad whose parents are both Chinese nationals or one of whose parents is a Chinese national shall have Chinese nationality. But a person whose parents are both Chinese nationals and have both settled abroad, or one of whose parents is a Chinese national and has settled abroad, and who has acquired foreign nationality at birth shall not have Chinese nationality.

6. Any person born in China whose parents are [[stateless person|stateless]] or of uncertain nationality and have settled in China shall have Chinese nationality.

7. Foreign nationals or stateless persons who are willing to abide by [[Constitution of the People's Republic of China|China's Constitution]] and [[Law of the People's Republic of China|laws]] and who meet one of the following conditions may be naturalized upon approval of their applications: (i) they are near relatives of Chinese nationals; (ii) they have settled in China; or (iii) they have other legitimate reasons.

8. Any person who applies for [[naturalization]] as a Chinese national shall acquire Chinese nationality upon approval of his application; a person whose application for naturalization as a Chinese national has been approved shall not retain foreign nationality.

9. Any Chinese national who has settled abroad and who has been naturalized as a foreign national or has acquired foreign nationality of his own free will shall automatically lose Chinese nationality.

10. Chinese nationals who meet one of the following conditions may renounce Chinese nationality upon approval of their applications: (i) they are near relatives of foreign nationals; (ii) they have settled abroad; or (iii) they have other legitimate reasons.

11. Any person who applies for renunciation of Chinese nationality shall lose Chinese nationality upon approval of his application.

12. State functionaries and [[People's Liberation Army|military personnel]] on active service shall not renounce Chinese nationality.

13. Foreign nationals who once held Chinese nationality may apply for restoration of Chinese nationality if they have legitimate reasons; those whose applications for restoration of Chinese nationality have been approved shall not retain foreign nationality.

14. Persons who wish to acquire, renounce or restore Chinese nationality, with the exception of cases provided for in Article 9, shall go through the formalities of application. Applications of persons under the age of 18 may be filed on their behalf by their parents or other legal representatives.

15. Nationality applications at home shall be handled by the [[Public Security Bureau|public security bureaus]] of the [[Municipality of China|municipalities]] or [[County of China|counties]] where the applicants reside; nationality applications abroad shall be handled by China's diplomatic representative agencies and consular offices.

16. Applications for naturalization as Chinese nationals and for renunciation or restoration of Chinese nationality are subject to examination and approval by the [[Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China|Ministry of Public Security]] of the People's Republic of China. The Ministry of Public Security shall issue a certificate to any person whose application has been approved.

17. The nationality status of persons who have acquired or lost Chinese nationality before the promulgation of this Law shall remain valid.

18. This Law shall come into force as of the date of its promulgation.

---

It looks like that you might not be able to get your Chinese citizenship because

of clause 5, since your father is now a citizen of the Philippines. However, I think

it'd be highly unreasonable if you were actually barred from obtaining your

Chinese citizenship and passport.

Have you tried to apply for a Chinese passport?

Another difficulty that I can see is the fact that your family left China in the

1920s -- about 20 years before the birth of PRC -- which means your

grand parents and potentially your parents and you are legally citizens of

the Republic of China, i.e. Taiwan.

Hopefully the outdated law would be changed soon.

[Lu]

I don't know the actual law of Taiwan, but I do know some people with both the Taiwanese and another nationality. They had to leave Taiwan every 3 months, if not they would have to join the Taiwanese army. So Taiwan does allow double nationality.

[Ian_Lee]

Taiwan used to issue a ROC (overseas Chinese) passport for overseas Chinese in SE Asia as well as HK/Macau. But that kind of passport still didn't grant the holder permanent residency in Taiwan even though it provided other perks in the areas of study and work.

But under the DPP-led government, it seems that they have stopped issuing this kind of passport.

PRC defines nationality in term of place of birth (with the exception of HK which NPC had redefined exclusively in 1996) while ROC used to define nationality in term of blood lineage.

[mhell]

Thank you all for your reply!

Pertaining to clause 5, it seems my mom and I were not considered as Chinese nationals but a "stateless person" instead. In this case, we will need to convert ourselves into Filipino citizen just to have a nationality.

We have tried to apply for a Chinese passport early this May and were told by the window at immigration we were very much welcome to do so. But when we were going to apply this August, they then told us we can not apply for one because we don't have a direct relative here. If we were given a correct information at that time, there's no need for us to come back. What a waste of time and money!

[mhell]

Hi there!

Does anyone know "how near" is "near relative" indicated in clause 7? Does cousin counts?

Thanks!