Dual passport/green card holders

[Randy W]

I'm not sure that there's any news here - it seems like just a generic article about the difficulties faced by dual passport holders - but it does seem to indicate a trend to be aware of.

 

From the SCMP

 

Entry denied: the identity crisis facing China’s covert dual passport holders

Beijing has warned of its zero tolerance for dual nationality. Now some foreign citizens who held on to their Chinese identity documents fear the consequences of returning

 

 

Just before the Lunar New Year holiday, China’s embassy in London posted a “special reminder” on its website warning that China did not recognise dual nationality.

“The embassy will invalidate the related documents of anybody who violates Chinese law and deny Chinese visas and entry to that person,” the notice said.

When “Ryan”, a thirty-something dentist and US citizen still holding a Chinese passport, read the message, he had a vision of his life falling apart.

Ryan was born in China and still makes regular trips back to see family, but he said he feared he would be stripped of his Chinese citizenship if he returned.

 

. . .

 

But now Chinese authorities are cracking down on dual citizens, a move analysts say is driven in part by a campaign to track down the ill-gotten gains of corrupt officials.

For about a decade, any Chinese national who became a citizen of another country has had to surrender their Chinese passport, handing over the document when they applied for a visa to enter China.

 

 

 

[Randy W]

This is extra onerous, but Jiaying's green card expires in October, so we just might pull through

 

Shanghai orders citizens to give up their local residence rights if they have a foreign green card

City tells residents they must give up their hukou – which confers a number of rights – if they also have the right to live abroad permanently

 

The Shanghai Permanent Residency Management Rule which will be effective from May 1, states that those who have not already revoked the hukou should tell the relevant authorities.

It adds that people who refuse to revoke their hukou or do not go to the police station to revoke it within one month of being given police notice will have their registration forcibly terminated by the police.

. . .

“I told my clients this rule is actually not new. But in the past, no government department has been checking whether you have a green card and have hukou at the same time,” said the woman, who is surnamed Wang.

Jiang Junlu, a partner at Beijing-based law firm King & Wood Mallesons, said it was not appropriate for Shanghai to force its residents with foreign residency to forsake their hukou.

“A green card means they have the right to live abroad permanently. But some don’t in reality do that,” he said. “This is against its drive to attract international talent, especially those professionals originating from China.”

 

[Greg.D.]

I'm going to guess that is illegal even by Chinese standards. They would be forcing people to choose, which could unfold interesting scenarios. There are plenty of people who live here (in the US for example) who intend, after they retire from work, to return to China. Would create million's of "homeless" Chinese if all who don't want to give up their citizenship lose their home ties.

 

This would be crushing to us (though we have no connection to Shanghai) were it to spread.

[Allon]

Agree. It took me a while to understand the wife's anxiety about coming here. When you look at it, she really makes a sacrifice -- her family ties being the biggest, but also things like a houkou, especially when I am much older and she is expected to live beyond me being gone. It simply adds to her anxiety about the relationship, despite any good signs of a healthy retirement here, better living conditions, and lots of friends.

 

It is a topic I wish we had talked about a lot more before we decided to get married. The words of a friend of hers still echo in my mind: Everybody wants to come to America.

[Greg.D.]

I began to tell my wife (this morning) about this scmp story from Shanghai and she cut me off and finished my sentence. She already knew and said they were already calling it "fake news" in weibo. I'm hoping it goes away, though I expect we will fall back on Chinese ingenuity if it goes forward.

[Randy W]

I began to tell my wife (this morning) about this scmp story from Shanghai and she cut me off and finished my sentence. She already knew and said they were already calling it "fake news" in weibo. I'm hoping it goes away, though I expect we will fall back on Chinese ingenuity if it goes forward.

 

 

According to the article, "The new rule was announced on the municipal public security authority’s website earlier this month and said Chinese citizens “settling down abroad or obtaining other nationalities” should report to the police to revoke their permanent residency, which is known as hukou.", but, yes, I won't be surprised to see it just fade away.

[Randy W]

NEVER MIND

 

Shanghai U-turn after outcry over revoking residency rights

City proposed removing the household registration of people with permanent residency overseas, but has ditched the plan admitting national guidelines unclear