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having a baby in kunming

OceanOcean (1193 posts) • 0

For those is a similar position: I went to ChongQing yesterday to register my British-Chinese son at the British Consulate there. There were a couple of hiccups which others might want to be warned about:

Firstly, if you want your child to have an English name on the Registration Cert, and later on the British Passport, then you must have the English name on the Chinese Birth Certificate. Hospitals can no longer alter (by hand or reprint) Chinese Birth Certs, regardless of any later authorising stamp. This is a new rule, apparently. Also, as Chinese Birth Certs are computerised and only have space for about 5 characters for the child's name, it may now even be impossible to record a full English name anyway.

Secondly, the Consulate require the Chinese parent's hukou documents (we got away with an ID card). A Chinese passport is not enough, despite what the website says.

Lastly, they do NOT now require Recorded Delivery envelopes (despite what the website says) but will charge you for organising the postage themselves (60RMB). And write your application form in BLACK - the form says that blue is fine but I was asked to rewrite it on arrival.

OceanOcean (1193 posts) • 0

A little further info I've gleaned:

Although Britain recognises dual passports, their Visa office won't grant a British visa in a Chinese passport if a British passport is also owned by that person. They strongly encourage you to choose a nationality.

And the child of a mixed couple (say, Brit + Chinese) LIVING IN CHINA does not automatically qualify for a British passport. It's at the discretion of the passport office, and you need to make your case. But if the couple are both living in Britain, your child has a right to a British passport (assuming all other requirements are met). Odd, but there you are.

coonilicious (8 posts) • 0

For Hubs and I when we firstly got married in China, the paperwork had to be certified and notarized, and kept record at the embassy so when your child is born in China, the embassy can look up the record and find your consistent information.

I do know a few people doing this "dual citizenship" trick with their kids though. My cousin gave birth to her son in Europe but when they came visit they went to the local Paichusuo and asked for her son to be added to her parents' hukou here and the police did it without questioning them anything. Interestingly I think the foreign agencies and the Chinese police don't share information and people here are just too lazy to care.

OceanOcean (1193 posts) • 0

I've applied for a British passport for our Chinese-born son (I'm British, wife is Chinese). Once we get it (fingers crossed) I will need to get a visa of some sort in it. I'm on a teacher's Residents Visa. My school (after PSB enquiry) says a "family" visa, linked to mine, is possible BUT I have to revoke my child's Chinese citizenship (China views all children born in China as Chinese). To do that, however, they are asking for his Chinese ID or hukou registration documents, but we never even tried to get those. Do I really have to register him in order to revoke his registration?? Anyone jumped through this silly hoop before??

eric25001 (41 posts) • 0

My wife and I had our baby in the USA.

As an American you can home school a child in China.

As an American IF the child is bright (99.9 percentile) a free 7-12 education to include University level work is available in the USA.

Read
Write
Count

Self Study
one to one is THE historical model not crappy public or private education of the masses

Alpha Phonics
How to Tutor
The Robinson Cirriculum

Very Very low cost home education tools
Nothing replaces good DNA and 1-1 interactions

The Dudeson's (1106 posts) • 0

@eric25001
Any foreign passport holder can homeschool in China.
But why would anyone do that for financial reasons.
What the poor child has to go through being 24-7 with the parents and being taught every day, by the people that hang around and tell you what to do (literally), everyday.

And to my knowledge homeschooling does more bad than good, except if the kid is ill, or there are no other possibilities for the little one.

Plus excluding junior from the benefits of a social group to work and learn with, including healthy seperation form parents (who in this case are the teachers, as well) means taking a huge positive part from their social education.
IMO, There is not enough propaganda and bad education to reason homeschooling vs. public/ private chinese schools.

I would never punish my kids so I can safe money. What kind of lesson will your child learn from this?

I think to show a child both sides of the medal China vs. West is less condescending, realistic and more 21st century than trying to over protect the child from the "evil" Chinese school.

I know kids that went through dual education and you wouldn't believe how well they adapt and appreciate the good of both education systems.

But thats just my opinion.

We are expecting a kid soon and we are just chilling about the whole citizenship stuff. It's so easy to get a Schengen Visa for my wife (CN) and a Chinese Visa for me (European), when married. So when we finally decide to settle somewhere for good then it maybe time to make a final decision on that. European laws are cool so my wife has a semi citizen status when we live back home and the kid due to my citizenship have similar rights as well. So no need to bother, .....YET!

I recommend to do a throrough research about the benfits of your lifestyle after you decide on one citizenship If you continue living in China it may be good to stay 'half chinese' in at least one passport.

YuantongsiYuantongsi (717 posts) • 0

One option for your son is to renounce his Chinese citizenship, then have him on a family visa of your WIFE, these are renewable annually. This is perhaps a better option for the future as it means that if you change jobs or are without work for a while then you kid has no related visa issues.

One point about renouncing Chinese citizenship for your son is that when he is 18 he can ask for it back as the decision to renounce was made by you two when he was a minor.

A friend in Beijing did this and his son is a foreign citizen on a family visa linked to his mum, not sure of the details but he said it was very straight forward to do,,,in Beijing. But the law is the same everywhere in China, you just most likely will have to educate the PSB here...

The other way forward is to have the British passport for your son, don't renounce his Chinese citizenship unless you decide to leave China for a few years or send him to international school here. Your son will have an empty passport with no Chinese visa in it cause he is a citizen, then when you want to go for a holiday overseas your wife applies for an exit permit valid for 3 months (I think, may be longer) that you use to get in and out of China with his UK passport. If you do it like this then you can also try to get your son on her Hukou which will mean "free" education in your local school.

I think the main point to consider is how long your family plans to stay in China.

OceanOcean (1193 posts) • 0

@yuantongsi
Some very useful ideas & suggestions there. Thank you.
Didn't realise you could get a visa via Chinese Mum.

The "exit visa option, just to confirm what you're saying:
He leaves China on Chinese passport with that visa, then enters UK on British passport, right? On return (say form a holiday to visit grandparents), he leaves on British passport and can get into China on normal passport (ie without a visa in British passport)?

laotou (1714 posts) • 0

@Ocean
The issue with using multiple passports - when you exit a country - there's no destination stamp when you switch passports, so it looks as though you left the country, but didn't go anywhere. Same on the reverse passport.

This used to NOT be such a major issue, as most airport customs and security didn't have the time to track your comings and goings - but with the advent of US catalyzed global terrorism (couldn't resist that plug) - computers are now recording our comings and goings - and occasionally various immigration security arms will spot check your departure stamp - and it's not there - which could result in a world of pain, requiring you to sort things out.

Not saying it will happen - but it is a genuine risk.

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