LCQ14: Permanent identity card
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     Following is a question by the Hon Paul Chan and a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose SK Lee, in the Legislative Council today (April 18):

Question:

     Some Hong Kong-born citizens who are also holders of Hong Kong permanent identity cards pointed out to me that their children who were born overseas had obtained British Dependent Territories Citizen passports and Hong Kong juvenile identity cards before June 30, 1997. Their children then stayed abroad to pursue studies and returned to Hong Kong upon reaching the age of 18 this year and applied for adult identity cards, but their applications were refused by the Immigration Department (ImmD). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) in each of the years since the reunification of Hong Kong in 1997, of the number of applications received by ImmD which were similar to the aforesaid cases; among such applications, of the respective numbers of those which were refused and approved, as well as the reasons why some applications were refused;

(b) among the refused applications referred to in (a), of the number of cases in which the applicants were successful in their subsequent applications for Hong Kong identity cards with assistance from ImmD, as well as the reasons why such applications were successful;

(c) among the refused applications referred to in (a), of the number of applicants who had lodged appeals to the Registration of Persons Tribunal; of the respective numbers of appeal cases which were allowed and rejected, as well as the respective reasons; and

(d) how the Government will step up publicity and education to facilitate eligible Hong Kong people who were born overseas to apply for Hong Kong identity cards?

Reply:

President,

     According to regulation 22 of the Registration of Persons Regulations, a valid permanent identity card shall be evidence that the holder enjoys the right of abode in Hong Kong. According to section 2A(1) of the Immigration Ordinance, a Hong Kong permanent resident enjoys the right of abode in Hong Kong. Paragraph 2 of Schedule 1 to the Immigration Ordinance provides that a permanent resident of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) is:

(a) a Chinese citizen born in Hong Kong before or after the establishment of the HKSAR;
(b) a Chinese citizen who has ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for a continuous period of not less than seven years before or after the establishment of the HKSAR;
(c) a person of Chinese nationality born outside Hong Kong before or after the establishment of the HKSAR to a parent who, at the time of birth of that person, was a Chinese citizen falling within category (a) or (b);
(d) a person not of Chinese nationality who has entered Hong Kong with a valid travel document, has ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for a continuous period of not less than seven years and has taken Hong Kong as his place of permanent residence before or after the establishment of the HKSAR;
(e) a person under 21 years of age born in Hong Kong to a parent who is a permanent resident of the HKSAR in category (d) before or after the establishment of the HKSAR if at the time of his birth or at any later time before he attains 21 years of age, one of his parents has the right of abode in Hong Kong;
(f) a person other than those residents in categories (a) to (e), who, before the establishment of the HKSAR, had the right of abode in Hong Kong only.

     According to paragraph 1(1) of Schedule 1 to the Immigration Ordinance, "Chinese citizen" means a person of Chinese nationality under the Nationality Law of the People's Republic of China (the Nationality Law), as implemented in the HKSAR pursuant to Article 18 of and Annex III to the Basic Law and interpreted in accordance with the Explanations of Some Questions by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) Concerning the Implementation of the Nationality Law in the HKSAR adopted at the 19th meeting of the NPCSC at the 8th National People's Congress on May 15, 1996.

     According to Article 5 of the Nationality Law, 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. Therefore, children born abroad whose parents are Hong Kong permanent residents settled abroad and who have acquired foreign nationality at birth are not Hong Kong permanent residents under paragraph 2(c) of Schedule 1 to the Immigration Ordinance.

     Paragraph 6(1) of Schedule 1 to the Immigration Ordinance provides that a person who is not of Chinese nationality and who was a permanent resident of Hong Kong before July 1, 1997 is taken to be a permanent resident of the HKSAR under paragraph 2(d) if:

(a) he was settled in Hong Kong immediately before July 1, 1997;
(b) after he ceased to be settled in Hong Kong immediately before July 1, 1997 he returns to settle in Hong Kong within the period of 18 months commencing on July 1, 1997; or
(c) after he ceased to be settled in Hong Kong immediately before July 1, 1997 he returns to settle in Hong Kong after the period of 18 months commencing on July 1, 1997 but only if he has not been absent from Hong Kong for a continuous period of not less than 36 months.

     Replies to the four parts of the question are as follows:

(a) Any person born outside Hong Kong to Hong Kong permanent resident who was a permanent resident of Hong Kong before July 1, 1997 and meets the relevant legal requirements and claims to be a Hong Kong permanent resident under paragraph 2(c) or 6(1) of Schedule 1 to the Immigration Ordinance may submit, in accordance with established procedures, application for verification of eligibility for permanent identity card to the Immigration Department (ImmD). Breakdown of the number of these applications received, approved and refused from July 1997 to December 2011 by year is tabulated below:

 Year    Applications   Applications   Applications
           Received        Approved*       Refused*  
----      -----------    -----------    -----------
1997       4 073           3 246              38       
(July to                                               
December)        
1998      20 039           11 967             324    
1999      30 288           11 310             2 426
2000      13 827           6 573              2 349
2001      13 794           5 101              2 290
2002      10 125           4 714              2 282
2003      7 970            3 486              1 803
2004      8 645            3 312              3 305
2005      9 937            3 380              4 305
2006      9 673            3 143              4 632
2007      12 063           2 793              4 913
2008      8 773            2 802              4 927
2009      8 228            2 320              4 467
2010      7 598            2 259              5 088
2011      8 533            2 393              5 334

* number of applications approved or refused in a year may not necessarily correspond with applications received in that year.

(b) The ImmD only maintains statistics on applications approved or refused, it does not maintain the required statistics.

(c) According to the Registration of Persons Ordinance, any person who is refused to issue a permanent identity card may lodge an appeal to the Registration of Persons Tribunal (the Tribunal). The Tribunal will determine whether the person enjoys the right of abode on the facts of his case. From 2005 to 2011, among the refusal cases in part (a), there were 371 appeals to the Tribunal, among which 224 were dismissed, 77 abandoned by the applicants, one allowed, and the remaining 69 are being processed.

(d) The public may learn of information on the right of abode and identity card through ImmD's right of abode leaflet and website, as well as GovHK. The ImmD had also publicised the relevant information in Hong Kong and overseas, particularly countries with many Hong Kong residents (for example, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, Singapore, etc.), through newspapers, briefings, television interviews, radio phone-in programmes, etc.

Ends/Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Issued at HKT 17:17

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