Under current rules, applying for the Home Return Permit requires documents of Chinese nationality. For most HKers, that proof is the SAR passport. However, the Chinese nationality for HKers was not clarified until 1996 when the NPC defined all the details. Many HKers, especially those who moved overseas, do not have to have the SAR passport and already held the HRP before the 1990s. They continue to renew their HRPs without the need to have the SAR passports.