Foreign Babies in Beijing
Not to be confused with the Rachel DeWoskin memoir, American-in-China blogger Imagethief has chronicled his experiences with having a baby in China in two-and-a-half parts here, here, and (the most interesting part) here.
His situation is much different from ours. His wife is a Singaporean citizen, and they decided to have their baby in Beijing where they currently live. Part of their problems as outlined in parts 1 and 1a is that they wanted their newborn son to have dual citizenship. Much to their surprise, the American passport was in their hands much sooner than the Singapore passport.
In the second part, they find that in trying to get some Z-Visa paperwork completed, they failed an important step, "registering" their baby with the Chinese police. Even though both parents were foreigners AND the baby already was a foreign passport holder, to get the resident permit for their Chinese-born son, they had to have him registered with the authorities soon after his birth. Since they did not, they had to pay a RMB5000 fine before the resident visa could be issued.
Our situation (we believe) is different. Our baby will be Hong Kong-born, so registry in Mainlad China will not be needed. While many local (and even some expats) believe that we should maintain a Hong Kong passport for our new baby, I'm really not ready to learn how to negotiate two separate systems for Visas and immigration. One friend of mine here, a native of Peru, is married to a man from Ireland. For years she maintained her Peruvian passport while her husband and three children were all Irish. For years she was stopped at many borders in Europe and Asia, watched her husband and children get stamped and waved through. "Okay, Mrs. Very-Irish-Last-Name with the Peruvian Passport. Is that really your name? Are these really your children?" Her life was much, much easier with an Irish passport, like everyone else in her family.
The process we have to follow should be much less complicated and much faster than what Imagethief went through. As soon as possible after delivery, and while I am still in the hospital, Randy has to request an expedited birth certificate from the SAR. It's just paperwork and money, but without it we can't get the passport and visa. Then, as soon as we know when we will be discharged, we have to make an appointment at the American Consulate in Hong Kong to get the passport. Surprisingly, everyone I've talked to about this say that a whole passport can be ready in as little as a few hours, and usually less than 24 hours. The biggest pain with this step, so I'm told, is that three or four days post-partum, both parents and the baby (and in our case, Myles, too) will all have to hang out at the consulate together, but the consulate does accomodate the new parents with private nursing rooms and the like. Then, passport and birth certificate in hand, we need to get a tourist visa for the baby. This can also be a same-day service if we pony up the money. All of this can happen in less than a week.
Getting the residence visa, though, will have to wait until after we move to Beijing. Randy's, Myles', and my visas are still valid until February. However, since Randy will be employed in Beijing, we will have to get the new residency visas for all of us, and the baby, sponsored by his new employer. It will make going to HK a bit of a hassle, having to mind the new baby's number of entries and exits, but we will manage.
His situation is much different from ours. His wife is a Singaporean citizen, and they decided to have their baby in Beijing where they currently live. Part of their problems as outlined in parts 1 and 1a is that they wanted their newborn son to have dual citizenship. Much to their surprise, the American passport was in their hands much sooner than the Singapore passport.
In the second part, they find that in trying to get some Z-Visa paperwork completed, they failed an important step, "registering" their baby with the Chinese police. Even though both parents were foreigners AND the baby already was a foreign passport holder, to get the resident permit for their Chinese-born son, they had to have him registered with the authorities soon after his birth. Since they did not, they had to pay a RMB5000 fine before the resident visa could be issued.
Our situation (we believe) is different. Our baby will be Hong Kong-born, so registry in Mainlad China will not be needed. While many local (and even some expats) believe that we should maintain a Hong Kong passport for our new baby, I'm really not ready to learn how to negotiate two separate systems for Visas and immigration. One friend of mine here, a native of Peru, is married to a man from Ireland. For years she maintained her Peruvian passport while her husband and three children were all Irish. For years she was stopped at many borders in Europe and Asia, watched her husband and children get stamped and waved through. "Okay, Mrs. Very-Irish-Last-Name with the Peruvian Passport. Is that really your name? Are these really your children?" Her life was much, much easier with an Irish passport, like everyone else in her family.
The process we have to follow should be much less complicated and much faster than what Imagethief went through. As soon as possible after delivery, and while I am still in the hospital, Randy has to request an expedited birth certificate from the SAR. It's just paperwork and money, but without it we can't get the passport and visa. Then, as soon as we know when we will be discharged, we have to make an appointment at the American Consulate in Hong Kong to get the passport. Surprisingly, everyone I've talked to about this say that a whole passport can be ready in as little as a few hours, and usually less than 24 hours. The biggest pain with this step, so I'm told, is that three or four days post-partum, both parents and the baby (and in our case, Myles, too) will all have to hang out at the consulate together, but the consulate does accomodate the new parents with private nursing rooms and the like. Then, passport and birth certificate in hand, we need to get a tourist visa for the baby. This can also be a same-day service if we pony up the money. All of this can happen in less than a week.
Getting the residence visa, though, will have to wait until after we move to Beijing. Randy's, Myles', and my visas are still valid until February. However, since Randy will be employed in Beijing, we will have to get the new residency visas for all of us, and the baby, sponsored by his new employer. It will make going to HK a bit of a hassle, having to mind the new baby's number of entries and exits, but we will manage.
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