History of British Hong Kong Citizens (country, people, move, cons)

[toby2016]

Just out of curiosity and to be clear.

When Hong Kong was under the British rule, were they considered British citizens or had a totally separate citizenship for British Hong Kong people?

When China took Hong Kong back, did the government automatically switched the former British Hong Kong citizens to being exclusively mainland Chinese citizen or they were still able to retain the British Hong Kong citizenship along with being a Chinese citizen? I read up on some things about this and from what I understand they were able to retain two different passports mainland China and British Hong Kong. If I am mistaken, please correct me, which is why I am asking.

When Hong Kong was under the British rule and let's day they moved to another country like Canada or USA, which is the most popular western countries for the Hong Kong immigrants to move to, were they able to keep both citizenships if they obtained citizenship in USA or Canada? Back then, if they had moved to Taiwan and gained citizenship there, were they able to keep the Hong Kong citizenship?

Now for those Hong Kong immigrants that moved to USA or Canada and gained citizenship there before the 1997 handover to China, what happened to their British Hong Kong citizenships?

[Urban Peasant]

Originally Posted by toby2016

Just out of curiosity and to be clear.

When Hong Kong was under the British rule, were they considered British citizens or had a totally separate citizenship for British Hong Kong people?

When China took Hong Kong back, did the government automatically switched the former British Hong Kong citizens to being exclusively mainland Chinese citizen or they were still able to retain the British Hong Kong citizenship along with being a Chinese citizen? I read up on some things about this and from what I understand they were able to retain two different passports mainland China and British Hong Kong. If I am mistaken, please correct me, which is why I am asking.

When Hong Kong was under the British rule and let's day they moved to another country like Canada or USA, which is the most popular western countries for the Hong Kong immigrants to move to, were they able to keep both citizenships if they obtained citizenship in USA or Canada? Back then, if they had moved to Taiwan and gained citizenship there, were they able to keep the Hong Kong citizenship?

Now for those Hong Kong immigrants that moved to USA or Canada and gained citizenship there before the 1997 handover to China, what happened to their British Hong Kong citizenships?

Check this out for the answer to your first question:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britis..._and_Hong_Kong

Yeah it's confusing but I got it.

For your second question:

Chinese citizens and permanent residents of Chinese descent remaining in Hong Kong after 1997 and were not granted British citizenship were granted special passports that still said "People's Republic of China" on the cover but also "Hong Kong Special Administrative Region" and had a blue cover instead of red. I am not sure but they are likely to offer different visa use than the ordinary People's Republic passport though as Chinese citizens, holders of this HKSAR passport are also entitled to Chinese consular assistance.

For your third question:

Depends if the country they moved to allows for dual citizenship. You'd have to look up the citizenship laws of every country to find out. I'd rule out the R.O.C. though as Mainland China of course does not recognize that government and so holders of HKSAR passports would lose their P.R.C. citizenship if they gained R.O.C. citizenship.

For your fourth question:

Canada is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations so they might have allowed for Hong Kong residents to keep their British Hong Kong citizenships or otherwise it was unnecessary to keep. Not sure about the U.S. either. The U.S. doesn't care if foreigners kept their old citizenship as I know many Canadian immigrants did after becoming U.S. citizens as well but I am not sure if the U.K. required the old citizenship to be dropped. All old BTDC passports expired by 1997 anyways. Something worth researching more on.

[Tomboy-]

Hong Kong people with British nationality had the same citizenship as people in the UK except the last few decades of British rule. Many people from HK's rural areas moved to the UK after the Second World War. When HK was about to be handed to China, the British changed the immigration laws and the effect was HK people was restricted from moving to the UK easily. They give the people an option to apply for a nationality called British National (Overseas) , which does not have the right to live in the UK.

HK Chinese people can apply HKSAR passports after HK was handed to China, HK people cannot get Mainland Chinese passports. HKSAR passport holders are Chinese nationals. The code CHN denoting China and the emblem of China are on the HKSAR passports.