TNAG-1856-FCO40-2631-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-memoranda-and-minutes-of-me-1989 — Page 149

HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

28 June 1989

香港立法局

一九八九年六月二十八日

13

these identity cards are different from those issued to Hong Kong permanent residents?

a

SECRETARY FOR SECURITY: Sir, there are two types of identity card "permanent identity card" which states that the holder has the right of abode in Hong Kong, and an "identity card" which does not state that right. The Immigration Ordinance defines who has the right of abode in Hong Hong. In brief, any person who is a British Dependent Territories Citizen by virtue of a connection with Hong Kong, and any person wholly or partly of Chinese race, regardless of nationality, who has been ordinarily resident in Hong Kong continuously for at least seven years, enjoys the right of abode in Hong Kong. A person who has the right of abode in Hong Kong is issued with a permanent identity card. A person who does not have that right is issued with an identity card.

A foreign national who is not wholly or partly of Chinese race does not enjoy the right of abode in Hong Kong.

Prior to 1 January 1983, when the British Nationality Act 1981 came into force, any child born in Hong Kong became a British Dependent Territories Citizen by birth, with the right of abode in Hong Kong. This was so regardless of the nationality of the parents, and whether or not they themselves had the right of abode in Hong Kong.

Since 1 January 1983, a child born in Hong Kong to parents, neither of whom has the right of abode in Hong Kong, would be a British Dependent Territories Citizen only if at least one of the parents has the right to land in Hong Kong or has been permitted to remain in Hong Kong unconditionally. In practice, this would apply to the children of:

(a) a British citizen in the employment of the Hong Kong Government who,

as a matter of policy, would be granted unconditional stay in Hong Kong;

(b) a British citizen who has been ordinarily resident in Hong Kong continuously for at least seven years, who will then have the right to land in Hong Kong; or

(c) any other national who has been ordinarily resident in Hong Kong continuously for at least nine years, and who has applied for and been granted unconditional stay in Hong Kong.