TNAG-1558-FCO40-2122-Future-of-Hong-Kong-nationality-and-passports-Hong-Kong-(Br-1986 — Page 113

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Business and work. Another passport gives you the right to work and do business in that country without seeking a work permit; to establish a business without restriction; and similar advantages above and beyond your current national status. passport from some countries--for example, an EEC nation--can also give you the right to live and work in an other EEC nation just by virtue of having the passport of a member nation.

So there are many reasons why you may wish to have another passport--aside from the obvious case of the Hong Kong resident who does not wish to have a Chinese passport in 1997. However, the process of gaining passports in most countries--of gaining nationality--usually requires a period of residence in that country for 5 to 6 years. Unless you really want to live in that country for at least 5 years--if not indefinitely--the price is too high. Further, there are usually many and often difficult hurdles to surmount to gain the initial right of residency, so the number of people who can qualify is usually fairly small-- compared to the numbers who wish to.

Another method of acquiring a second nationality is to "buy" a passport. But the countries where this can be done--the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, or Paraguay--don't really offer you any special benefits, other than the right to live someplace else: which includes the right to leave the country you're now in, if only to go to the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, or Paraguay.

Two motivations

So there are essentially two reasons why your might seek a different (or additional) nationality:

1.

Emigration. You wish to leave your country of birth--or renounce your current citizenship--to live and work in another place.

In seeking the freedom to live and work in that country without restriction, you can seek either a temporary work permit or permanent residency (only the latter can lead to citizenship.) In this case, achieving another nationality is secondary to your desire to be in another place for some period of time (although giving up your current national status may be a prerequisite to achieving that freedom).

Security/uncertainty.

Whatever the uncertainty you are attempting to reduce, in this case your primary aim is to achieve

2.