Chinese nationality law
Chinese nationality law details the conditions by which a person holds nationality of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The primary law governing these requirements is the Nationality Law of the People's Republic of China, which came into force on September 10, 1980.
This article is about nationality law in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau. For regulations applicable to Taiwan, see Taiwanese nationality law.Nationality Law of the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China (including Hong Kong and Macau)
September 10, 1980
September 10, 1980
中華人民共和國國籍法
中华人民共和国国籍法
Zhōnghuá rénmín gònghéguó guójí fǎ
Zhōnghuá rénmín gònghéguó guójí fǎ
zung1 waa4 jan4 man4 gung6 wo4 gwok3 gwok3 zik6 faat3
Lei da Nacionalidade da República Popular da China[1]
Foreign nationals may naturalize if they are permanent residents in any part of China or they have immediate family members who are Chinese citizens. Residents of the Taiwan Area are not considered Chinese citizens, even though the PRC's extant claim over areas controlled by the Republic of China (ROC), Taiwanese still need to obtain a valid visa in order to enter China.
Although mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau are all administered by the PRC, Chinese citizens do not have automatic residence rights in all three jurisdictions; each territory maintains a separate immigration policy. Voting rights and freedom of movement are tied to the region in which a Chinese citizen is domiciled, determined by hukou in mainland China and right of abode in the two special administrative regions.
While Chinese law makes possessing multiple citizenships difficult, a large number of residents in Hong Kong and Macau have some form of British or Portuguese nationality due to the history of those regions as former European colonies. Chinese nationals who voluntarily acquire foreign citizenship automatically lose Chinese nationality.
History[edit]
Qing policy[edit]
Before the mid-19th century, nationality issues involving China were extremely rare and could be handled on an individual basis.[2] Customary law dictated that children born to Chinese subjects took the nationality of the father, but did not have clear rules for renunciation of citizenship or the naturalization of aliens.[3] Imperial Chinese subjects were traditionally severely restricted from traveling overseas and international travel was only sanctioned for official business.[4] Disputes arising from nationality questions became more common as the Qing dynasty was forced through a series of unequal treaties to open up trade with Western empires and allow its subjects to migrate overseas.[2][4]
The Qing government created the first Chinese nationality law in 1909, which defined a Chinese national as any person born to a Chinese father. Children born to a Chinese mother inherited her nationality only if the father was stateless or had unknown nationality status.[5] Women who married foreigners lost Chinese nationality if they took the nationality of their husbands.[6] Nationality could be inherited perpetually from Chinese fathers, making it difficult to lose for men.[7] These regulations were enacted in response to a 1907 statute passed in the Netherlands that retroactively treated all Chinese born in the Dutch East Indies as Dutch citizens.[8] Jus sanguinis was chosen to define Chinese nationality so that the Qing could counter foreign claims on overseas Chinese populations and maintain the perpetual allegiance of its subjects living abroad through paternal lineage.[9] A Chinese word called xuètǒng (血统), which means "bloodline" as a literal translation, is used to explain the descent relationship that would characterize someone as being of Chinese descent, and therefore, eligible under the Qing laws and beyond, for Chinese citizenship.[10]
The 1909 law placed restrictions on Chinese subjects with dual nationality within China. At the time, foreign powers exercised extraterritoriality over their own nationals residing in China. Chinese subjects claiming another nationality by virtue of their birth in a foreign concession became exempt from Qing taxation and legal jurisdiction within Chinese borders.[11] A strict policy against automatic expatriation was adopted to prevent this; a Chinese individual's foreign nationality was not recognized by Qing authorities unless specifically approved.[6] Foreigners who acquired Chinese nationality were subject to restrictions as well; naturalized Qing subjects could not serve in high military or political office until 20 years after becoming a Chinese national, and only with imperial authorization.[12]
Modern China[edit]
Nationality law remained largely unchanged in the Republican China,[6] except for a major revision passed by the Kuomintang in 1929 that decoupled a woman's nationality from that of her husband and minimized circumstances in which children would be born stateless.[13] After the Communist Revolution, the new government abolished all republican-era legislation but did not immediately create laws to replace them.[14] Mainland China lacked formal nationality regulations[5] until greater legal reform began in the late 1970s to 1980s.[15] The government unofficially applied the 1929 statute during this time to resolve nationality issues,[16] and also made a mother's nationality normally transferable to her children outside of cases where the father is stateless.[17] The PRC does not recognize dual nationality[18] and actively discouraged its occurrence in its treaties with Indonesia, Nepal,[19] and Mongolia[20] in the 1950s. When the National People's Congress adopted the current nationality law in 1980,[21] a further stipulation was added that automatically revokes nationality from Chinese nationals who settle overseas and voluntarily acquire foreign citizenship.[22]
Acquisition and loss of nationality[edit]
Individuals born within the People's Republic of China automatically receive Chinese nationality at birth if at least one parent is a Chinese national.[46] Children born overseas to at least one Chinese parent are also Chinese nationals, unless they are foreign citizens at birth and either parent with Chinese nationality has acquired permanent residency abroad or foreign citizenship.[46] In Hong Kong and Macau, broader regulations apply; all individuals of ethnic Chinese origin who possess right of abode in either region and were born in a Chinese territory are considered Chinese nationals, regardless of the nationalities of their parents.[33][34] Furthermore, because of China's continuing claims over Taiwan, ROC nationals from Taiwan are considered PRC nationals by the PRC.[44]
Foreigners may naturalize as Chinese nationals if they have immediate family with Chinese nationality, possess permanent residency in mainland China or a special administrative region, or have other "legitimate reasons".[47] Applications for naturalization are normally considered by the National Immigration Administration in mainland China,[48] while responsibility for this process is delegated to the Immigration Department in Hong Kong[49] and the Identification Services Bureau in Macau.[50] Successful applicants are required to renounce any foreign nationalities they have.[51] Naturalization is exceptionally rare in mainland China; there were only 1,448 naturalized persons reported in the 2010 census[52] out of the country's total population of 1.34 billion.[53] Acquiring Chinese nationality is more common in Hong Kong; the Immigration Department naturalized over 10,000 people between the transfer of sovereignty and 2012,[54] and continues to receive over 1,500 applications per year since 2016.[55]
Chinese nationality can be relinquished by making a declaration of renunciation.[56] It is also automatically revoked when persons from mainland China who reside abroad voluntarily acquire a foreign nationality.[57] Hong Kong and Macau residents who become foreign citizens continue to be Chinese nationals unless they make an explicit declaration of nationality change to their territorial immigration authorities.[58][59] Macanese residents with mixed Chinese-Portuguese ancestry are specifically given a choice between Chinese and Portuguese nationalities. On submitting a formal declaration to select Portuguese nationality, these individuals would lose Chinese nationality.[50] Former Chinese nationals may subsequently apply for nationality restoration, subject to discretionary approval. Similar to naturalizing candidates, successful applicants must renounce their foreign nationalities.[60]
While Chinese nationality law does not recognize multiple nationalities, the current legal framework and its practical implementation allow for certain situations where de facto dual nationality occurs: While children born to Chinese parents abroad in general would not acquire Chinese nationality if they acquired foreign nationality by birth, those children who are born to Chinese parents living abroad only temporarily, such as diplomatic staff, humanitarian workers or overseas students, will still be regarded as Chinese nationals and hence be de facto nationals of both the Chinese and the foreign state.[61] Chinese officials who naturalize in another country cannot renounce their Chinese nationality and hence will continue to be treated as Chinese nationals by the Chinese state.[62]