The documents we require for registration as a British citizen under the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act
This page provides details of the documents you will need to supply to us to support your registration as a British citizen under the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act.
For most documents we require the original document, not a copy.
Your Hong Kong Permanent Identity Card
You should send a photocopy of your Hong Kong Permanent Identity Card, if you have one.
Evidence of ordinary residence
You should provide evidence that:
- you are currently ordinarily resident in Hong Kong; and
- you (and your parents if you are under 18) were ordinarily resident on the relevant date.
Details of what is meant by ordinarily resident and the relevant date can be found in the eligibility section.
Evidence of your nationality
You should send:
- a photocopy of your passport; or
- your original certificate of naturalisation or registration; or
- documentary evidence that you were, on 30 June 1997, a British dependent territories citizen; or
- documentary evidence that you are a British national (overseas), British overseas citizen, British subject or British protected person.
Evidence required if you are under 18
You should send:
- your birth certificate showing details of your parents; and
- your parents' marriage certificate.
Application forms
Registration as a British citizen under the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1997
Terms explained
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British national (overseas)
A person who was a British overseas territories citizen by connection with Hong Kong was able to register as a British national (overseas) before 1 July 1997. It is no longer possible to become a British national (overseas).
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British overseas citizen
British overseas citizenship is a category of British citizenship that was gained by certain residents of Hong Kong on 30 June 1997, when sovereignty of Hong Kong returned to China.
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British protected person
This is a form of British nationality held by a resident of a former British protectorate who did not take the citizenship of the country to which he/she belonged before it stopped being a protectorate. See the page Who is a British protected person? for more information.
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British subject
Until 1949, nearly everyone with a close connection to the United Kingdom was called a British subject. All citizens of Commonwealth countries were British subjects until January 1983. Since that date, very few categories of people have qualified as British subjects. It is a form of British nationality.
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Ordinary residence
Proven close link with a country that shows that country is where you are settled and normally live. Proof of ordinary residence would be the length of time you have spent in the country, the continuity and general nature of the residence, which must be voluntary and legal.