US ESTA application with Hong Kong ID card

score:3

Accepted answer

As mentioned in comments, having a HKPR ID doesn't imply citizenship. There are plenty of non-Chinese people with one. There are also plenty of HK people with two (or more) citizenships, whatever the law says. I have plenty of friends in this case.

Since you have three stars, you're a PR based on filiation. You are technically a Chinese citizen, even though you never applied for a HK passport. You say you go to HK every 5 years or so: that's a sign you're a "native" HKPR, not a foreigner: if you were a foreigner in the eyes of HK and China, you would have lost your PR the first time you came back to HK: foreign PRs need to visit HK once every 3 years at most, failing that, they forfeit their PR status.

But the best way to ascertain this would be to contact HKID, either directly, or by visiting the Chinese consulate. What comes next is whether you want to keep this citizenship, or abandon it (note: as a native HK, losing your citizenship means losing your PR too).

Upvote:2

Although this answer is 1 year old , this comes up high on the google search list, and unfortunately has incorrect information so I wanted to correct it for future searches.

Three stars means you're of Chinese Descent. (this is not the same as Chinese Nationality) Technically there is no such thing as a Chinese Citizen, that terminology is not used. Chinese Nationality is as follows. (main points)

Article 4:

Any person born in China whose parents are both Chinese nationals or one of whose parents is a Chinese national shall have Chinese nationality.

Article 5:

Any person born abroad whose parents are both Chinese nationals or one of whose parents is a Chinese national shall have Chinese nationality. But a person whose parents are both Chinese nationals and have both settled abroad, or one of whose parents is a Chinese national and has settled abroad, and who has acquired foreign nationality at birth shall not have Chinese nationality.

https://www.immd.gov.hk/eng/residents/immigration/chinese/law.html

So the question for the original poster would be.

Were you born in Hong or China, if so, yes you probably are a Chinese National.

If you were born overseas, were your parents still Chinese Nationals, if so, then yes you are a Chinese National, if not, then no.

The requirements to get HK passport have changed over the years, previously Chinese descent was enough to get a HKSAR passport, now you need to be a Chinese National.

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