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The test for the right of abode for foreign national children resident in Hong Kong for 7 years is the same as for adults but the manifestation of that PR takes a slightly different form…

QUESTION

I’ve heard that our children can independently hold permanent residency once they turn 7.  Is this correct and if so, how do we go about applying for it?

Thanks!

ANSWER

Once a child that was not born in Hong Kong has lived here continuously for a period of not less than seven years, that child goes on to make an application to have his eligibility for a permanent identity card verified, and that exercise involves exactly the same approvability test as is applies to an adult counterpart that’s also seeking to go ahead and secure the right of abode in Hong Kong.

Therefore, usually in the context of children that are naturally resident in Hong Kong with their parents, the evidence that’s submitted in support of that application is that they are together with their parents and that they are in school, and the Immigration Department take proof of schooling typically as being definitive evidence that they have been continuously known as a residence in Hong Kong, and of course they do check to see their whereabouts during that time. So, insofar as the test goes, it is, essentially, the same as it is for adults, when it comes to children; however, the manifestation of the right of abode is reflected not in the issue of a permanent identity card because the child, if it’s under eleven years of age, can’t secure any kind of identity card; effectively, once they get to eleven they get a juvenile ID card, and that, juvenile ID card states that the holder has the right of abode, but prior to that the actuality of having had your verification for eligibility for the right of abode verified, it is reflected in a sticker that’s placed in the back of the passport of the child, and then the child then presents that at the boundaries and at the airport when the child is travelling. And of course the Immigration Department immediately admit the child and the strength of the child having the right of abode. So that’s it, it’s an endorsement and a passport first until the issue of the first ID card whereupon the permanent identity card is formally issued.

The only wrinkle to that is that at the point of issuing the ID card at the age of eleven, there will be a further examination to ensure that the child has remained continuously resident in Hong Kong, throughout the preceding, say in this case, three or four years, if the child had eligibility verified at the age of seven, and if the child has not been continuous and only resident in Hong Kong throughout all of that time or has been absent from Hong Kong for more than three years at a stretch, then the ID card that will be issued will be a right to land ID card and will not be a permanent identity card.

In a nutshell, eligibility can be verified through the placement of the sticker in the passport, but you still need to maintain your connections to Hong Kong under the Basic Law, which means that the child must have been in Hong Kong on at least one occasion during the interim period, over a course of three years, in order to maintain eligibility for the right of abode and the issue of the permanent identity card accordingly. Otherwise, as I’ve stated, the child will be issued with an ID card that grants him the right to land.

I hope you find this useful.

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