China Visa -- Originally Citizen, Do I Need a Visa?

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  [Deactivated] on 23/11/2016 - 19:57

  -2

  It's fine. Enter China with your Chinese passport because you're clearly still a Chinese citizen.
  When returning to Australia, use your Australian passport.

  • 

    b-t on 23/11/2016 - 20:45

    Sorry, but I don't think I'm understanding. I've already become an Australian citizen so I'm not sure if my Chinese passport would still be a valid identification for me to enter China?

    • 

      StewBalls on 23/11/2016 - 20:52

      No, it is my understanding that once you give up your Chinese citizenship you do need a visa to re-enter…China does not allow dual citizenship AFAIK.

    • 

      [Deactivated] on 23/11/2016 - 21:06

      +1

      Scratch that. You'll need a visa because your Chinese citizenship would have been automatically renounced when you gained Australian.

      This is different to other, more normal, less communisty countries.

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  bengal tiger on 23/11/2016 - 21:14

  +2

  This is a common issue discussed among Chinese citizens in the UK who also take up British citizenship after graduating from Oxbridge and work for a few years in London. Australia and the UK allows dual citizenship but China does not, so you have two options:

  1. Do the right thing and apply for a Chinese entry visa with your Australian passport. It's likely the visa officials will piece things together (your Aussie passport will state your place of birth so they'll do a database check) and ask for you to surrender your Chinese passport and citizenship before they issue you the visa.

  2. Try and risk holding on to dual citizenship by not applying for a visa and entering HK and China on your Chinese passport. Ensure your visa date/location stamps in your Chinese passport match up and tell a full story of where you've been (less of an issue outside the Schengen area but your Australian entry/exit stamps need to be apparent). Any gaps in dates for long periods of time will indicate to Chinese visa officials that you have another passport, they're trained to look for these things. If they do figure out you have another passport, you'll have to be ready on the spot at immigration to renounce one citizenship, Chinese or otherwise. Unfortunately you'll also need to keep entering and exiting Australia with your Chinese passport and permanent residency visa for the foreseeable future for your Chinese passport to continue telling a full travel story.

  • 

    iSamurai on 23/11/2016 - 21:46

    They don't stamp passports in Australia any more unless you specifically request it.

    • 

      Lysander on 24/11/2016 - 01:18

      They do stamp enter and exit for non Aussies! I know from experience. It is still happening. Visas are electronic but passports are still stamped for entry and exit.

      • 

        citygal on 24/11/2016 - 23:18

        They won't stamp your passport when you are entering Australia using the e-tunnel that the no immigration staff physically checks your passport.

      • 

        Lysander on 25/11/2016 - 02:07

        @citygal:

        They do stamp. Have the proof in my passport and so have many of my friends.
        Foreign passports don't support the Australian e-check system. Therefore, non-citizens have to go through normal procedure and there your passports gets stamped.

      • 

        citygal on 25/11/2016 - 03:51

        @Lysander:
        No, that's not my experience. My friend held a HK passport and went through e-tunnel fine without stamp this year. I used British passport and still worked in e-system without stamp. I tried doing it a few times already. Whether your passport can use e-tunnel depends if your passport issued country has agreement with Australia.

      • 

        Lysander on 25/11/2016 - 11:06

        @citygal:

        Sorry but neither of my two European passports do and they are both stamped (including the British one).
        It depends on whether you have that type of passport I suppose.
        Normal passports still get stamped, not for the visa of course but entry and exit date so police etc. can easily check whether someone is an overstayer.
        My friend's Taiwanese passport is full of Aussie stamps (last one only from a month ago).
        The majority of passport are not quick check passports (e-tunnel) - mostly business people or frequent travellers use those.
        So for most people, their passports gets stamped.

  • 

    b-t on 24/11/2016 - 01:08

    Thanks so much for your answer! Really helped me out :)

    I'll be going tomorrow to get my visa to enter China on my Australian passport tomorrow.

  • 

    Lysander on 24/11/2016 - 01:17

    +1

    2 does not work. Upon gaining citizenship all visas become invalid. Hence the Chinese passport will not have any more visa or permanent residency attached to it.

    You need to apply for a visa and give up your Chinese passport or risk not being able to tell a full travel story, especially in relation to missing visa stamps.

  • 

    citygal on 24/11/2016 - 23:17

    Nah, China doesn't recognise dual citizenship so the OP's Chinese citizenship automatically stopped once he got the Aussie citizenship. Also, as an Australia citizen, you must use Australian passport to leave or enter Australia (can't use Chinese passport to enter).

    If the OP has a passport that the country allows dual citizenship (eg. HK), then he will not need a visa. But unfortunately this is not the case in China.

• 

  brokenglish on 23/11/2016 - 23:11

  +2

  You are now AU citizen.
  http://smartraveller.gov.au/Countries/asia/north/pages/china…
  You need a visa.

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  Jugg.Judy on 25/11/2016 - 01:09

  What's the worst can happen without valid visa? Get pwned by chinese government?