Would a Dual Citizenship Be Possible for The Chinese?

Today I went to renew my passport at the Chinese General Consulate in Sydney. It turned out to be just 5 mins from my house.  When turning  into a lane, I noticed several Chinese people standing around either holding signs or delivering pamphlets about Falungong, then I realised that the big building on the side of the road must be the Chinese General Consulate.  I was right.

I went in, grabbed the passport renewal form, filled it in and stood in the queue for " Passport Renewals". When it was my turn, the lady officer asked me to write down on a piece of paper the actual period of time that I have spent in Australia.

I realised that there is a requirement that any Chinese citizen who is an Australian permanent resident  and has lived in Australia for more than 2 years must, when they renew their Chinese passport,  submit proof that they are not an Australian citizen or have  not applied for Australian citizenship. If they have lived in Australia for less than 2 years, a detailed  time frame of living in Australia has to be indicated.

As you know, China is one of the few countries that do not allow dual citizenship.  However, I always wondered how they actually enforced this policy. Today I found out the answer. By requiring an official proof from DFAT (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade), they will easily avoid any "scam" of anyone renewing their Chinese passport while they are already a citizen of Australia.

I was lucky that I did not have to get  a proof from DFAT, even though my passport showed that I have been living here for more than 2 years, because I was in Europe for 5 weeks. So it worked out that  my total months in Australia was only 23 not 24 which would require me to get the DFAT letter.  So  after I wrote down a detailed period of time living in Australia, I was issued a notice saying that I can come to pick up the new passport on the 5th August which is this Friday. How efficient!

I often hear the comment that "China is a jealous country" because they do not allow dual citizenship. I know lots of Chinese in Canada are trying to convince the Chinese government to permit dual citizenship so that when they go back to China, they can still be treated as a Chinese.

In my opinion, it would be great for the Chinese government to allow dual citizenship because as far as I know, the Chinese people who are living overseas often tend to go back to China to either invest or do business once they have gained experience or learned more advanced technology. But the fact is by the time these Chinese people want to return China, they are probably already the citizens of the country they have been living in for many years. If they could return to China as a Chinese citizen, things would be more convenient for them than as a foreign passport holder. For instance, if they invest in some business, the tax would be more favourable for a Chinese citizen than a foreigner. In that case, they would be more encouraged to go back to invest in China; therefore, China would attract more talented Chinese back to her grand land and to speed up the process of prosperity.

I hope the government will change their policy in the near future so that I can retain my Chinese citizenship as well as being recognized as a citizen of Australia. I always love China and consider myself as a Chinese no matter where I am; but I also would like to attain the convenience of being an Australian passport holder so that I don't have to get a hundred visas whenever I want to travel for example :) I am so jealous of Brad who has both Australian and British passports which allow him to travel to England, all of the European countries and just about any other country without a visa.

Comments

[hunter]

are you sure China Citizen have tax/policy benefit even privilege when invest/run business in China??? not foreign investors??????

[flora]

i am kinda sure that foreign investors have the favor not the chinese ppl

[Daivro]

I agree with you, but also it would really help attract actual foreigners who have a life or business in China. In reply to the comments, first, it only costs a Chinese person about 1/10th the money to start a business compared to a foreigner. Also, if there are ever any legal issues, domestic or international, it helps to be Chinese in China. If I could have a dual Chinese-American citizenship, it would cut 3 weeks of red tape headaches out of my year.

[jiahong]

Hi, I stumbled upon your blog while googling "Dual citizenship China". After reading the article, I find myself couldn't agree more with a dual-citizenship policy for overseas Chinese. Personally although I'm in the process of applying for permanent status in Canada, I will always consider myself Chinese. And if one days I become Canadian, it will serve more as an acquired political title whereas being Chinese elicit deep emotional belongingness.

However, I doubt the Chinese government will ever admit dual-citizenship because it would complicate every level of control. Oh well, let's hope one day! :)

[jiji]

why so many people trying to explore the option of dual citizenship? chinese government is very clear once a chinese obtains a foreign citizenship, you are not chinese anymore. they kick you out. why you try to kiss somebody's asshole when he is turning the back on you. have more commonsense. as far as i am concerned, if i obtain a foreign citizenship, i will be very glad to get a chinese visa to visit china.

[andygor]

It is actually possible to get de facto Dual Chinese citizenship. I am an Australian Born Chinese who has lived in Australia for 25 years and only went back to China to get my Chinese citizenship 6 months ago.

How?

Becoming a Permanent Resident of the HKSAR. As a Chinese National to the HKSAR, your able to get a Home Return Permit which gives you all the rights and privileges of a Chinese National (as well as the caveats such as no foreign consular help) but allows for you to own property, set up business etc.

Funny thing is I can't even speak Mandarin, and customs always finds it funny dealing with me cause they expect me to have some understanding of Mandarin.

So if you were lucky to be born in Hong Kong or have parents who are from Hong Kong - you can essentially have dual citizenship. Many of my friends are in the same situation. If not you might be waiting for a looooong time before they acknowledge dual citizenship. Particularly with China's increasing level of Nationalism...
But I welcome the day when China will be powerful and respected that makes its own people wish to betray the motherland just to make it easier to travel and settle aboard.

[吳爾開希]

China really needs to do something to change their laws. They are alienating a lot of 华人. I understand that China is under the threat of traitors, but there are a lot of 华人 that just want to go back to their ancestral home land. I can't speak about south east Asia, but I can tell you that the west is racist towards Chinese, particularly in the USA. The west has responded in a very negative way to Chinese growth, and frequently tries to blame China for their own problems. For this reason, I feel that I would benefit from returning to China, even though I have never lived there. Western racism has made me more patriotic, and nationalistic as a 华人. Even if China doesn't allow dual citizenship, it should at least offer a special visa for people with Chinese blood. The British people have this, and it is called ancestral visa. I don't care if I don't get Chinese citizenship, but I think I am entitled to a 户口, and residence permit. It is just ridiculous to treat overseas Chinese the same as 鬼佬. It's also quite unfair that Hong Kong citizens can have as many citizenships as they want, while main landers cant. My parents were both born in China, but also both citizens of the ROC, but since they immigrated to 鬼佬 lands, then they can't be Chinese citizens anymore, despite being 100% 汉. I am also 100% 汉, but have no entitlement whatsoever to Chinese citizenship. Not even a long term visa. I have been able to get an ROC passport because they are much more leniant to 华侨, but still this doesn't help me in the main land. My mother is more fortunate because she has an ROC 户口, and therefore can get a 台胞证. So basically, she can do whatever she wants, but I can't. Also I wonder what these people mean by "close relatives" who are Chinese, because my mother is considered a Chinese, especially since she has a 台胞证. What about relatives in HK, and Taiwan? Do they count as "Chinese relatives" because I have tons of those. My grand mother is also buried in the main land.

[義和團]

the problem with dual nationality is that alot of traitors who commit a great deal of sabatoge have dual citizenship or associations with other countries, especially with enemy countries such as australia, usa, canada, britain.

[黃飛鴻]

If all the Chinese know it. Japan a traitor country in East Asia does not also recognize and permit dual citizenship or dual nationality. It is because they also knew that if they recognize or permit that into their law many enemy countries such as Australia, USA, Canada and Great Britain can easily find a way to sabotage them into their homeland. The Japanese knew this because they are a traitor country like themselves. These countries if all the Chinese know it is very racist against us Asians they will try everything to contain and encroach Asia especially China. In my opinion the Chinese government knew that in the long term if they permit or recognize dual nationality or dual citizenship then it will be very chaotic to our "MOTHERLAND" because of this foreign traitors and foreign enemy.

[Dave]

Yeah, then they arrest guys like Stern Hu and say he is a Chinese citizen even though he has an Australian passport. This is hypocrisy.