China does not recognize dual citizenship, and some believe Hong Kong is pressuring the roughly 350,000 residents there who hold Canadian passports to choose between Chinese citizenship and the citizenship of the country they immigrated to.
According to the Vancouver Sun, Burnaby, B.C., lawyer Li Guangtian said it would create a big dilemma for many people, which is sad, according to the Vancouver Sun. He speculated that China is cracking down on second passport holders in Hong Kong to get back at Western politicians who have criticized China. And Hong Kong residents who do not give up their second passports so they can enjoy the same rights as Chinese citizens could lose many economic and travel rights.
Hong Kong is Home to many foreign passport holders, with an estimated 100,000 people holding U.S. passports, 85,000 holding Australian passports and 350,000 holding Canadian passports. Canadian immigration lawyers Sam Hyman and David Lesperance noted that many Canadian passport holders live in Hong Kong because they can make more money in the financial center, Hong Kong, without having to pay the higher Canadian income tax.
The Chinese government is basically saying that if you want to continue to live and work in Hong Kong, you will have to make a choice, Hyman said. In the 1990s, he continued, a group of middle-class and affluent Hong Kong residents moved to Canada and received passports, but many of them returned to Hong Kong. Fewer Hong Kong residents (about 215,000) have lived in Canada in recent years than the 241,000 who lived there in 1996.
If Hong Kong residents with Canadian passports end up being treated like foreigners, they will lose certain rights and will have to apply for work visas on a regular basis, according to Li Guangtian.
Also, a person attempting to enter any area controlled by China on a Chinese Passport, but at the same Time found to be secretly holding a passport from Canada or another country, could be arrested.
Both Li Guangtian and Hyman say it is difficult to predict how many people will give up their Canadian citizenship in order to stay in Hong Kong. For many, it would mean giving up the transnational migration lifestyle, which means going both ways a lot.
Many Hong Kong residents obtained Canadian passports in the 1990s because they wanted peace of mind and to feel they had a sanctuary, including property, in case China failed to fulfill its promise to continue to grant Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy for 50 years (until 2047), Hyman noted.
For many, the Canadian passport is their insurance policy, Hyman added.
An earlier poll by the Asia Pacific Foundation found that the majority of people in Hong Kong who hold Canadian passports have lived in Canada for only four or five years. Many did not tell the Chinese Communist authorities that they had a second nationality.
The survey also found that 46 percent of respondents sometimes or always consider Canada to be their home. However, 37% of Hong Kong-born Canadian nationals said they would not consider Canada home. The survey was conducted before the pro-democracy protests sweep through Hong Kong in 2019-20.
In addition, Hayman noted that there are also countries in Europe that do not recognize dual citizenship, and that many Hong Kong residents have made Canada their preferred immigration destination because of its generous and relatively undemanding attitude toward immigrants, including relatively low residency requirements.
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