Adz wrote:
I was born in Hong Kong in 1985, and just turned 22 a few days ago. By birth I was a British Dependent Territories Citizen. I obtained my BN(O) status when they were introduced as I was eligible. This was sometime in the mid 90's i think. I have always lived in Hong Kong.
Both my parents were born in Pakistan but my father has been in Hong Kong since the late 60's and to be fair he's hardly ever gone back to Pakistan. My parents have never registered as UK & Colonies citizens or British Dependent Territories citizens in Hong Kong before 1997.
In that case, if your father was born in Pakistan and never naturalised in HK, you were Pakistani by descent as well as BDTC by birth. Apparently Pakistan exempted under 21s from loss of nationality so your acquisition of BNO probably did not impact your Pakistani citizenship.
Hence you can't qualify for registration as a British citizen under the 1997 legislation for Hong Kong, because you were also a Pakistan citizen on the "relevant date" which is 4 February 1997 in most cases.
It is a shame that your father did not become a BDTC before 1997 - quite possible that both of you would be eligible for British citizenship if he had.
So as you can see I have spent my literally my whole life in Hong Kong and to be quite honest I have no relationship with Pakistan yet I have no real nationality.
Incidentally you
might have lost your Pakistan citizenship on your 21st birthday. You should confirm this with the Pakistan authorities. If they make this clear then get the confirmation in writing:
You could send a copy of such letter to the Foreign Office as evidence of your right to British consular protection should you ever go to Pakistan.
If further information is required please ask. If not what option do I have?
In the short term, no real options. If you want to leave Hong Kong and obtain a "proper" citizenship (eg British, Australian etc) it's going to depend on your skill profile. Do you have any chance of emigrating to Australia or New Zealand, for example - or might you have in a few years?
If you can get confirmation you ceased to be Pakistani when you turned 21, you may want to get in touch with some campaigners in the UK who have expressed interest in the Hong Kong citizenship issues (eg from the britishcitizen.info website). Now that the UK has accepted the principle that otherwise stateless British nationals should be offered British citizenship, there may some day be a further piece of legislation to tie up the "loose ends" left by the 1997 and 2002 concessions. For example, there is a group of British Overseas citizens in Kenya born between 4 July 1979 and 31 December 1982 who are in pretty much the same position as you.
Don't expect anything to happen soon, however. If you have an opportunity to migrate to Australia, New Zealand, US (green card lottery etc) then you should look hard at it. Obviously if you become an Australian citizen for example, you would never be eligible for British citizenship, but in the circumstances that would probably no longer be important.
