Question re: Hong Kong SAR - Instruction(s) for documents

[marlander]

Hi everyone,

I am sponsoring my wife for PR in Canada. She was born and lives in Hong Kong and therefore has a Hong Kong passport and a Hong Kong permanent identity card.

On the CIC website for "Country Specific Requirements", it lists the following for the Hong Kong SAR:

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Hong Kong SAR – Instruction(s) for documents

• Persons born in the People’s Republic of China since 1996 must submit a notarized copy of the original Medical Certificate of Birth issued by the Ministry of Health of the People's Republic of China. (If this is not available, you must submit an explanation as to why this document cannot be submitted.)
• If you hold a passport from this country, you and your family members included in the application must provide:
  • The household register called the “hukou”.
  • Proof of marital status for children 16 years of age and older.
• For divorces obtained in the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong, please provide an “Absolute nisi decree”.
• If residing in this jurisdiction (or another jurisdiction where Chinese is used for mail delivery): Where indicated, provide your address in Chinese characters as well as in Pinyin or English, including postal code. The mailing address you provide must be the residential address of a person or the business address of a firm. A post office box number is not acceptable.
• Also include eight (8) address labels with the mailing address in Chinese characters.

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1) Are you only required to submit the household register("hukou") if you hold a passport from Mainland China? My understanding is that the Hong Kong SAR does not have a "hukou" system so this is not something that a Hong Kong resident would have, need or be able to provide. For reference, her parents were born in Mainland China but they both also have Hong Kong passports and Hong Kong permanent identity cards.

2) Is it necessary to "provide your address in Chinese characters as well as in Pinyin or English, including postal code" and "include eight (8) address labels with the mailing address in Chinese characters" for an address in Hong Kong? Hong Kong uses English for mail delivery and as far as I know we do not have a postal code.

Thanks for your guys help

 

[Kitkat00]

Hi,

Did you figure out whether the Hukou only applies only to PRC passports?

 

[marlander]

Hi,

Did you figure out whether the Hukou only applies only to PRC passports?

Hi, yes, confirmed no need Hukou for Hong Kong passports. The Canadian Consulate in Hong Kong replied the below to my questions:

1) Can you confirm that there is no need for us to submit the household register("hukou")? My understanding is that the Hong Kong SAR does not have a "hukou" system so this is not something that a Hong Kong resident would have or be able to provide. For reference, my wife's parents were born in Mainland China but they both also have Hong Kong passports and Hong Kong permanent identity cards.
- Please be advised that Hukou is not applicable to Hong Kong permanent resident.

2) As far as I know Hong Kong uses English for mail address delivery and does not have a postal code. Can you confirm there is no need to "provide your address in Chinese characters as well as in Pinyin or English, including postal code" and "include eight (8) address labels with the mailing address in Chinese characters"?
- Please provide eight address labels in English.

I also received the below information regarding Hukou in an email requesting other additional documents:

Ø If not yet submitted: Copy of Hukou (household register) if you reside in the People’s Republic of China or Taiwan, accompanied by a notarized translation into either English or French. Translation must be part of the notarized booklet.

 

[YVR123]

Hi, yes, confirmed no need Hukou for Hong Kong passports. The Canadian Consulate in Hong Kong replied the below to my questions:

1) Can you confirm that there is no need for us to submit the household register("hukou")? My understanding is that the Hong Kong SAR does not have a "hukou" system so this is not something that a Hong Kong resident would have or be able to provide. For reference, my wife's parents were born in Mainland China but they both also have Hong Kong passports and Hong Kong permanent identity cards.
- Please be advised that Hukou is not applicable to Hong Kong permanent resident.

2) As far as I know Hong Kong uses English for mail address delivery and does not have a postal code. Can you confirm there is no need to "provide your address in Chinese characters as well as in Pinyin or English, including postal code" and "include eight (8) address labels with the mailing address in Chinese characters"?
- Please provide eight address labels in English.

I also received the below information regarding Hukou in an email requesting other additional documents:

Ø If not yet submitted: Copy of Hukou (household register) if you reside in the People’s Republic of China or Taiwan, accompanied by a notarized translation into either English or French. Translation must be part of the notarized booklet.

Yeap.

No such thing as "Hukou" in Hong Kong. So if the person hold ONLY a HK passport, he/she cannot get any "Hukou".

 

[BryanL]

Hi, yes, confirmed no need Hukou for Hong Kong passports. The Canadian Consulate in Hong Kong replied the below to my questions:

1) Can you confirm that there is no need for us to submit the household register("hukou")? My understanding is that the Hong Kong SAR does not have a "hukou" system so this is not something that a Hong Kong resident would have or be able to provide. For reference, my wife's parents were born in Mainland China but they both also have Hong Kong passports and Hong Kong permanent identity cards.
- Please be advised that Hukou is not applicable to Hong Kong permanent resident.

2) As far as I know Hong Kong uses English for mail address delivery and does not have a postal code. Can you confirm there is no need to "provide your address in Chinese characters as well as in Pinyin or English, including postal code" and "include eight (8) address labels with the mailing address in Chinese characters"?
- Please provide eight address labels in English.

I also received the below information regarding Hukou in an email requesting other additional documents:

Ø If not yet submitted: Copy of Hukou (household register) if you reside in the People’s Republic of China or Taiwan, accompanied by a notarized translation into either English or French. Translation must be part of the notarized booklet.

Hi, I am currently sponsoring my parent for their PR as well, I got the same questions of what you asked. As you may know, Hong Kong does not have a hukou system, may I ask how did you reply to IRCC in the end? Did you just write them an explanation letter and attached all the birth certificate, marriage certificate, etc.? Your advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[armoured]

Hi, I am currently sponsoring my parent for their PR as well, I got the same questions of what you asked. As you may know, Hong Kong does not have a hukou system, may I ask how did you reply to IRCC in the end? Did you just write them an explanation letter and attached all the birth certificate, marriage certificate, etc.? Your advice is greatly appreciated.

Thread above is clear, that requirement does not apply to HK passport holders.

 

[BryanL]

Thread above is clear, that requirement does not apply to HK passport holders.

I understood. My question is how to response to IRCC? with an explanation letter of course, but attached with what sort of proof?

 

[armoured]

I understood. My question is how to response to IRCC? with an explanation letter of course, but attached with what sort of proof?

I don't think any explanation needed. Text above about hukou seems to refer to prc passport holders. Text from consulate makes clear the government knows this.

But write a short explanation of you like.

 

[BryanL]

I don't think any explanation needed. Text above about hukou seems to refer to prc passport holders. Text from consulate makes clear the government knows this.

But write a short explanation of you like.

That is correct. But unfortunately, I received a letter of IRCC asking this "proof of relationship" for my parent sponsor application, specifically asking for hukou. Therefore, I need to provide some sort of explanation letter and proof to response IRCC. Statement copied as below:

This is in reference to your application for permanent residence in Canada under the Parents and Grandparents
program.

As per Subsection 11(1) of the Immigration and Refugees Protection Act (“the Act”), in order for you to receive
permanent residence an officer must be satisfied that both you and your applicable family members are not inadmissible
and meet the requirements of the Act.

Furthermore, Subsection 16(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act states that: “A person who makes an
application must answer truthfully all questions put to them for the purpose of the examination and must produce a visa
and all relevant evidence and documents that the officer reasonably requires.”

Proof of Relationship: Please provide your Hukou (household registry) as proof of relationship to your
sponsor. If your current Hukou does not list your sponsor, you may contact your local household registration office for all
records of your sponsor, including certificates of cancellation, moving out, etc. Alternatively, you may submit a notarized
copy of your sponsor's original Medical Certificate of Birth issued by the Ministry of Health of the People's Republic of
China. A notarial certificate of birth, family relation, or kinship is insufficient.

This must be received at this office by: 2025/02/06

 

[armoured]

That is correct. But unfortunately, I received a letter of IRCC asking this "proof of relationship" for my parent sponsor application, specifically asking for hukou. Therefore, I need to provide some sort of explanation letter and proof to response IRCC. ...

If you have a question with specific circumstances that weren't covered elsewhere in the thread, it helps others to disclose those specific circumstances up front - otherwise they can't know what's going on. IRCC writing to you and specifically asking for a document (instead of just what you provide when applying) - that's a specific circumstance.

Assuming both you and parents are HK passport holders and eg you were born in HK - write to IRCC and tell them this, including the lack of hukou. If you can find supporting info online - provide that too.

Since this is covered fairly explicitly even in wikipedia, I'm sure you can find a decent source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hukou

If they have had hukou before and have any evidence of it being cancelled etc., you could consider providing copies of those as well. Since the question is about family ties with the sponsor, presumably your HK birth certificate covers that - can't hurt to provide a copy (again) of that.

BTW: although you should take this seriously, it's not (unfortunately) rare for IRCC to ask for a document like this when they should know it may not exist; sometimes it's just an officer or office that's junior and/or not familiar with specifics of some countries/territories. In other cases it could be they're checking about whether the individuals still have hukou status in mainland China.