Home > Public Services > Chinese Nationality > Renunciation of Chinese Nationality > Will renunciation of Chinese nationality affect your Right of Abode in Hong Kong?

Public Services

Will renunciation of Chinese nationality affect your Right of Abode in Hong Kong?

You will continue to have the right of abode (ROA) in Hong Kong after your application for renunciation of Chinese nationality has been approved, provided:-

  1. you had the ROA in Hong Kong before 1 July 1997,
    and

    1. you were settled in Hong Kong immediately before 1 July 1997; or

    2. after you ceased to be settled in Hong Kong immediately before 1 July 1997, you return to settle in Hong Kong within the period of 18 months commencing on 1 July 1997; or

    3. after you ceased to be settled in Hong Kong immediately before 1 July 1997, you return to settle in Hong Kong after the period of 18 months commencing on 1 July 1997 but only if you have not been absent from Hong Kong for a continuous period of not less than 36 months.

    OR

  2. you are able to meet the criteria applicable to a person not of Chinese nationality :-

    1. you have entered Hong Kong with a valid travel document, have ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for a continuous period of not less than seven years and have taken Hong Kong as your place of permanent residence before or after the establishment of the HKSAR (you are required to make a declaration in the form the Director of Immigration stipulates that you have taken Hong Kong as your place of permanent residence); or

    2. you are under 21 years of age born in Hong Kong to a parent who is a permanent resident of the HKSAR under paragraph 1(i) before or after the establishment of the HKSAR if at the time of your birth or at any later time before you attain the age of 21, one of your parents has the ROA in Hong Kong (you have to re-qualify for the ROA as other foreign nationals do when you reach the age of 21); or

    3. before the establishment of the HKSAR, you had the ROA in Hong Kong only.

 

As a person not of Chinese nationality, you will lose your ROA in the HKSAR only if :

  1. you have been absent from Hong Kong for a continuous period of not less than 36 months since you ceased to have ordinarily resided in Hong Kong; or

  2. being a person who before the establishment of the HKSAR had the ROA in Hong Kong only, you have been absent from Hong Kong for a continuous period of not less than 36 months after you obtained the right of abode in any place other than Hong Kong and had ceased to be ordinarily resident in Hong Kong.

 

If you lose your ROA in Hong Kong, you will automatically acquire the right to land enabling you to enter Hong Kong freely and to work, study or live in Hong Kong without any restriction. You will also be able to re-acquire the ROA when you are able to satisfy the requirements in paragraph 2(i).
Back Top