Overseas Chinese thinking of living and working in China needs guidance

[ROBERT LEE]

Good morning. My name is ROBERT LEE. I was born and raised in the Philippines. Both my parents were immigrants from Xiamen, Fujian, China. I never completed my college education and in the last two decades, has always had a business.

 

At 46, separated with two kids, and being stateless (being an overseas Chinese), and having been to Shanghai/Guangzhou more than 30 times in the last six years, I am contemplating on living and working in China. My preferred destinations would be Shanghai, and potentially Guangzhou.

 

As a PRC passport holder, I assume I do not have the right to live and work in China. Does anyone here have more information on this? I do not hold Philippine citizenship, nor mainland China or Taiwan (hence being stateless). How do I acquire mainland citizenship?

 

Any starting tips on finding jobs preferably in international sales, and here, I am hoping my experience as a buyer for six years would come in handy.

 

Thank you so much, everyone.

[stapler]

Pretty much every country in the world has sign up the UN's convention on statelessness. About the only people in the world who are stateless these days tend to be Palestinians. You have a PRC passport. That means you're also a PRC citizen with the right to work and live in China

[ROBERT LEE]

Stapler,

 

Thank you for the reply. Yes, I hold Chinese citizenship and unfortunately, incredibly, I could not find information on overseas Chinese wishing to return to China, to live and work. I do not require a visa to enter mainland China, I do if I am going to Hong Kong. I have no idea how long I could legally stay and how to secure a work permit.

[roddy]

Can I just check - is what you have definitely a Chinese passport? Or a Travel Document or something. I'm confused about how you say you have a Chinese passport but are not a Chinese citizen.

[ROBERT LEE]

Roddy,

 

Yes, I have PRC passport. I was born to Chinese nationals in the Philippines. Here, I have the Alien Certificate of Registration I-Card (native born visa) granting me permanent resident status in the Philippines.

[ROBERT LEE]

Roddy, for further clarification, I think it is called something like Household Registration in China. I certainly do not have that... I do not have ... the national ID in China.

[Basil]

The next step might be to find out, if you have a PRC passport, can you get a Chinese ID card, i.e. 身份证.

 

I would imagine that this is not a new problem, people can change their Hukou, so new residents should be able to be assigned one.

[gato]

If you have a PRC passport and have not acquired citizenship in any other country, then you should be a PRC citizen.

The fact that you do not need a visa to enter mainland China shows that the Chinese government also consider you a PRC citizen.

As a PRC citizen, you should have the right to work in China and can live there as long as you want.

[roddy]

Then I guess you need to go to China, get a hukou (the Household Registration), then an ID card? According to this, the hukou needs to come first. 

[gato]

If you read Chinese, take a look at this page on how to obtain a hukou:

http://www.66ruian.com/system/2014/05/09/011659394.shtml

公安局详解华侨回国如何恢复户口

[ROBERT LEE]

Roddy,

 

Checking the link... Mercifully, Bing Translate does the translation well.