Renew Home Return Permit using Old HKID
 

I was born in Hong Kong and held a Home Return Permit that expired more than a decade ago. Would I have to apply as a new applicant or can I renew it?

I also have not been back to Hong Kong and have not replaced my HKID yet. I am planning to get the new HKID on my upcoming trip to Hong Kong but understand it takes 7 working days.

Can I apply for or renew the Home Return Permit using the old (obsolete?) HKID? If so, that would allow me to start the HRP process without having to wait for the new HKID to arrive.

P.S. I tried reading the relevant Chinese CTSHK web pages through Google Translate but could not find the answers. The English CTSHK site seems to have nothing about the Home Return Permit.

From what I read (I'm just a long-term expat in HK, so this doesn't affect me directly) there is a waiting time of several months just to get an appointment at CTS to renew home return permits. The problem is such that recently expired HRPs are being accepted by China for entry.

The Emperor has decreed that all people of Chinese ethnicity are Chinese subjects (whatever their paperwork says) and that they must all be able to read and speak Chinese.

Since you obviously don't come to this part of the world very often, would it not be easier to renounce your Chinese citizenship? I believe you could do that and at worst be downgraded to Right To Land in HK, which basically gives you all the same things anyway.

The upcoming Hong Kong trip is many months away so I should be able to get an appointment at CTSHK assuming I can navigate the web site.

I want to retain my HKSAR passport and am willing to deal with renewing the Home Return Permit once a decade if I can figure it out.

A third option is to apply for a Chinese Travel Document in your country of residence. It's valid for two years and works just like the Home Return Permit (and possibly better because it's a passport replacement).

Hello OP, sorry to piggyback your thread.

May I ask if there are other fellow ex-HK-expats who had acquired Right of Abode through 7 years of residency and was then absent from HK for 36 months (due to C19),
https://www.immd.gov.hk/eng/faq/faqroa.html#
Q4 suggests RoA is automatically lost?
In practice, how is Immigration Department handling this?

Thank you!

Yes, you have lost Right of Abode. No exceptions due to Covid. However, as noted on the page you linked, you have simply been downgraded to Right to Land. You keep the right to live and work freely in HK. All you lose is the right to vote, some tax benefits on property purchases, and eligibility for some government cash handouts.

I believe that you can still travel to HK on the basis of your existing HKID showing RoA. You should enter via a manned Immigration desk, and will be advised to replace your HKID during your visit.

Hi PaulC852,

My bad, I hadn't read Q14 which specifically addressed my question.

So a perm res's 36mo absence normally would, though not necessarily, cause them to "ceased to be ordinarily resident", particularly if:
- low duration and/or frequency of prior absences
- having habitual residence (I guess having returned and restarted living in HK, with RtL status)
- employment by a Hong Kong based company
- having principle members of his/her family in HK

Fair enough, though sadly looks like SOL for me.

Yes, but again, you haven't really lost anything. Very few people value the right to vote now, so it's only really an issue if you planned to buy property here.

Well, and the reason I'm using the thread....I think loosing RoA also means no RHP renewal...

No - if you have a Return Home Permit then you are regarded as a Chinese National and you won't lose your ROA.
People who gain ROA through 7 years residence (such as me) are not entitled to a RHP - I need a visa in my passport to enter Mainland China.

Hmm, I think RHP can be had for those who were born Chinese (despite having been since renounced) AND HK Perm Res/RoA status, so if RoA is lost then RHP eligibility fails?

If you formally renounced Chinese nationality then I would expect you to have lost the right to a RHP at that point. As I understand it, you can't have an RHP if you aren't regarded by the Chinese authorities as a Chinese National. If you had lived in HK for 7 years at the point you renounced Chinese Nationality then I would expect you to switch to ROA through residence (and get a new HKID without the ***). Then, yes, I would expect you to lose that ROA after 36 months absence as above.

But this is not something I have direct experience of - better wait for a Chinese HKer to drop in here.

The criteria to be issued a Mainland Travel Permit for Hong Kong and Macao Residents (港澳居民來往內地通行證), colloquially known as the Home Return Permit or Home Visit Permit (回鄉證), are:

Number 4 could possibly apply - but it says you must be approved to resume PRC citizenship, which indicates that a HRP held when you previously had PRC citizenship would no longer be valid.

The HRP is acknowledgment by the mainland that you are a PRC citizen, so voluntarily renouncing your PRC citizenship effectively means choosing to give up your HRP.

I assume PaulC852 is correct that renouncing PRC citizenship but having lived in HK for 7 years would get you an HKID without stars, however HK Immigration has been erroneously issuing non-PRC citizens who lived in HK for 7 years with *** for years, and I'm not talking about people who are regarded as PRC citizens according to the mainland's nationality law because they were born in HK or descended from someone born in HK.

You need to tell us more about how you obtained Chinese citizenship since that's always been a requirement for the HRP. If you still have Chinese citizenship (at least in Hong Kong, where the nationality law is slightly different to that of China), then you will qualify for a new HRP and your RoA will never lapse.

I flew to HK over the weekend to renew my HRP using my old HKID.
Just to clarify, my older HKID is the older chipped version, and not the really old one in the 90s. I also renewed this older HKID to the current version of the HKID at the same time.

So the procedure is you need to book appointment for the HRP first. As they require to scan and view and verify your HKID. Using the older chipped version of HKID is fine, they have no problems with this. After application you still retain your existing HRP, and also HKID.

Later on the same day I went to HK immigration (also need to pre book) to apply to replace my HKID. They took my older HKID away and gave me a temporary paper HKID receipt to use before the new HKID card becomes available for me to pick up. I would need to leave HK using my passport instead of my HKID card. In this case I used my HKSAR passport.

That is also the reason why you need to book appointment to replace HRP first, then HKID later on the same day.

I will be flying back to HK at the end of this month to pick up both HRP and the new HKID card. I will pick up the HKID first, then the HRP.

Hope this helps.
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