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Raising a child in Kunming

OceanOcean (1193 posts) • +3

PSB procedure update for anyone is a similar situation:

My son (6) was born in China, has a hukou and a British passport (I'm his British Dad, Chinese Mum). Up until today, when taking him abroad, we've got him an Entry/Exit visa from the PSB to allow him to leave/return China and then used his British passport for travelling.

The PSB now say that whilst this is still OK for trips to the UK, he will need to get and use a Chinese passport (with relevant visas from the country to be visited) for all other countries. They will only provide the Entry/Exit visa for UK (as UK passport holders can't get a UK visa on foreign passports).

Hopefully this info can help any other parents who have used a similar method to take their child on holiday.

satii (82 posts) • 0

That is quite an important development, and not just limited to holiday travel.

I wonder if this policy has more to due with technicalities of automatic airport customs via facial recognition by China-born dual citizenship identities in their database waiting to be ironed out....

or for economics, to curb birth tourism and money outflow, particularly to rival nations that recognize birthright citizenry....

or for party interests, to tighten harness of own citizens for motherland ideology preservation, given hk fallout....

or for politics, like a diplomatic whip to punish UK only, in relation to above interference?

jj123 (99 posts) • 0

@ocean,
I'm not clear on this.

How or why would it matter if your child

traveled to France for an example, and then back to the UK and then back to China?

He would be using his UK passport, that still has the entry/exit stamp on his UK passport regarding China.

OceanOcean (1193 posts) • 0

@jj
Basically because he can't use his British passport to exit China. As he was born here, he is considered a Chinese citizen and they can only have one recognised passport - a Chinese one. So he would need a visa in his (new) Chinese passport to leave China. Up until now, the Entry/Exit visa provided a way to leave and return to China without using any passport.

tigertigerathome (172 posts) • 0

Procedural changes are usually long term, and not short term reactions to the political climate of the day. Things like tariffs are already in place, and can be dialed up/back easily, and are not a procedural change.
I think that this change in procedures is more likely to be related to the global clampdown on human trafficking. Rather like the new procedures brought in to clamp down on money laundering, ordinary people have also been inconvenienced by the new rules.

That would be my guess.

satii (82 posts) • 0

There were cases in the news where foreigners adopted Chinese orphans and raised them back in home country to a life of servitude , or worse.

Stricter screening policies were emplaced for foreigners applying for Chinese adoptions since. Strangely, parents being overweight was one the factors for denying applicants.

JanJal (1243 posts) • 0

My observations have been, that in the past (until couple of years ago perhaps) Chinese authorities had real instructions to deal with just the simplest of foreigner related issues, and tried to navigate the rest by feeling the stones. This has realized in variable implementations across the country, each to their own interpretation of applicable laws, if any.

In my opinion one of the more vague laws is that which governs Chinese nationality and citizenship. Probably for a reason, given the political circumstances here.

In recent years this has changed. The central government has given local PSBs more detailed directives for many issues related to foreigners - in this case for children with potentially multiple citizenships, but also for foreigners' permanent residency for example.

I would think that the above reported change in policy is not so much a change of policy, but creation of common policy in place where previously there was none.

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