CONFIDENTIA
2
Article 24(2)(1) of the Basic Law
3.
Article 24(2) (1) of the Basic Law provides that
Chinese citizens born in Hong Kong before or after the
establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative
Region will be permanent residents of the HKSAR, and will
have right of abode in the SAR.
4.
This Article does not stipulate whether Chinese
citizens born in Hong Kong should be entitled to right of
abode if at the time of their birth their parents had been
residing in Hong Kong unlawfully or on a temporary basis.
The British side wishes to seek clarification from the Chinese side on this point so that arrangements can be made in due course for the Immigration Ordinance to be aligned with the Basic Law.
Proposal
5.
immigration
possible.
It is important that opportunities for illegal
should continue to be restricted as far as
The British side therefore proposes that when the Immigration Ordinance is amended to bring it into line
with Article 24(2) (1) of the Basic Law, the Ordinance
should enable Chinese citizens born in Hong Kong to have permanent resident status and right of abode if, at the time of their birth, either of their parents was lawfully residing in Hong Kong unconditionally; or, since the time
of their birth, one or both of their parents had acquired unconditional stay. If in either case the child's father
and not the mother was lawfully resident in Hong Kong and without conditions of stay imposed on him, the father of the child must have been married to that child's mother, in
order for the child to be eligible for right of abode on the ground of having been born in Hong Kong.