China’s Ministry of Public Security posted this appeal on its website: members of the public with knowledge of family residence registration (hukou) violations should report their tips to the public security bureau. This includes persons who have acquired foreign nationality but failed to cancel their hukou.
Category: Naturalization and Citizenship
A U.S. Citizen Working Abroad Asks about Expeditious Naturalization for Her Husband
Juliana and her husband both work abroad at a U.S. Embassy. She writes to ask about her husband’s eligibility for “expeditious naturalization”: I am a U.S. citizen, and I would my husband to be one too. We both work at the U.S. Embassy in Brazil. We got married in the U.S. in 2007 and moved to…
Chinese Turning to American Surrogate Mothers
Chinese couples who are unable to have children are turning to a surprising place for help these days: America. By hiring American surrogates, Chinese couples get around a ban on surrogacy in China. Also, by having a child born abroad, parents skirt the one-child policy and get a U.S. passport for their child. These same…
Chinese Birth Tourism (Story by Germany’s ARD TV)
Germany’s public broadcaster, ARD, has a story on Chinese birth tourism to the U.S. Karin Dohr interviewed attorney Gary Chodorow for the story. Chodorow says that birth tourism can put couples at risk if they misrepresent the purprose of their visit to the U.S. Consulate when applying for a visa or to U.S. Customs when entering the…
Birth Tourism: $50,000 for a U.S. Birth Certificate?
The governor of the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands (CNMI), Eloy Inos, and the territory’s delegate to the U.S. Congress, Gregorio Kilili Sablan, say they are working to try to stop birth tourism.
Cult-Induced Renunciation of United States Citizenship
The U.S. State Department instructs consular officers about how to treat “cult members [who] wish to relinquish U.S. nationality.” (7 FAM 1296). Yes, that’s a thing.
Duplicate U.S. Passport: Do American Expats in China Need One?
Do American expats in China need a duplicate U.S. passport? The Public Security Bureau holds your main passport for 15 working days when you apply for a residence permit, which can cause many hassles.
Best Passport for Visa-Free Travel?
Here’s a global ranking of countries by the ability of their passport holders to enter other countries visa-free. The U.S. ties for 2nd place, with its citizens able to enter 172 countries with no visa. And China is in 82nd place, with its citizens able to enter 44 countries with no visa.
Birth Tourists Face Prison in Hong Kong
About 420 mainland Chinese women have been sentenced to prison in Hong Kong since October 2010 for violating immigration laws in order to give birth in the city, according to Te-Ping Chen of the Wall Street Journal.
Shady Chinese Agencies Promoting U.S. Birth Tourism–Part 2: Hong Kong’s Struggle with the Problem
This series looks at shady Chinese agencies promoting U.S. birth tourism:
Shady Chinese Agencies Promoting U.S. Birth Tourism–Part 1: Undercover Investigation
This series looks at shady Chinese agencies promoting U.S. birth tourism:
Translation: Ministry of Foreign Affairs Press Release, “How Chinese Citizens Should Deal with Nationality Issues” (Apr. 14, 2008)
Source: China Web Due to global integration and the day-by-day increase of Sino-foreign contacts, nationality problems are arising for Chinese citizens living in Mainland China . Some Mainland Chinese citizens qualify under foreign law to apply for or automatically acquire foreign citizenship (even if they have never been abroad) due to a foreign adoption, foreign…
Translation: Nationality Law of the People’s Republic of China
(Source: Ministry of Public Security. The English translation is not official.) NATIONALITY LAW OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA (Adopted at the Third Session of the Fifth National People’s Congress, promulgated by Order No. 8 of the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on and effective as of September 10, 1980)…
U.S. and Hong Kong Wary of Birth Tourism
The United States and Hong Kong encourage medical tourism. Patients are drawn by the high standard of care, and hospitals find this business to be disproportionately profitable. But both are wary of “birth tourism,” i.e., women entering as visitors with the intent to give birth.
Best Passport for Visa-Free Travel?
The Economist has posted this graphic showing that the best passports for visa-free travel are Sweden/Finland/Denmark (entry to about 170 countries), followed closely by Germany, Japan, USA, and Canada. A Chinese passport allows visa-free travel to about 40.
Translation: Interim Regulations for the Administration of Schools Established for Children of Foreign Personnel
(Source: Ministry of Education. English translation is unofficial).
USCIS Fee Increase
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced it is raising fees an average of 10%, effective Nov. 23, 2010. The agency is primarily fee-based, with about 90% of its budget coming from applicants and petitioners seeking immigration benefits. The agency justifies the fee increase as a way to recover costs after fiscal year 2008…
DOS Increases Fees for Immigrant Visas & American Citizen Services
I previously reported on fee increases by the U.S. Department of State (DOS) for nonimmigrant visas effective June 4, 2010. Now, DOS has also issued an interim final rule increasing fees for immigrant visas and certain American Citizen Services, effective July 13. DOS justifies the changes by citing an independent cost of service study’s findings…
Translation: Notice of the Beijing Education Committee Regarding Measures for Enrolling in Kindergarten, Elementary, and Secondary Schools the Children of Certain Parents Coming to Beijing for Investment and Innovation
(Source: Beijing Education Commission. English translation is unofficial).
Chinese Green Card Holder Under Deportation Proceedings After Voting in U.S. Election
Hong Skains, age 37, is a green card holder from China. She registered and voted in the 2004 federal elections in Colorado, apparently unaware that only citizens are eligible to vote.