Australian Passport for HK born baby

[sherwes]

Hi, my husband and I are Australian and we need to work out how long it will take us to get an Australian passport for our baby due in June.

I have looked on the websites and spoken with the consulate. It looks like it will take:
- 2 weeks to get the HK birth certificate, plus
- 10 working days to get the Australian citizenship certificate, plus
- 10 working days to get the passport.

Does anyone have experience with this process? We need to get the passport asap after having the baby as we will be living in HK with no income!

Thanks

[tstmum]

It shouldn't take that long to get the birth certificate (unless you haven't decided the baby's name yet!!), but the rest of the process takes as long as you've quoted. You will also need photos for the baby's citizenship and passport applications, and for appropriate witnesses to sign the applications (the relevant info is on the forms). For the passport they are VERY strict about the photos, so make sure you read the info that they give you.

Good luck with the birth!

[sherwes]

Thanks. How long should I allow for the birth certificate?

[tstmum]

For the birth certificate, the hospital will register the baby's birth and then give you the information about which birth registry office to go to to complete the certificate and what documentation you will need (eg, HKID cards of both parents, passports with visas, marriage certificate). Once you get to the registry office, then it is very quick, eg, same morning. I sent my husband to do it both times so am not sure exactly how long it took him. But do go first thing in the morning, as I think there is a quota (there was a thread on this a little while ago).

[rani]

There is a quota, best to book an appointment online

http://www.geobaby.com/articles/baby...h-certificate/

[nicolejoy]

If you call the registry of births as soon as you get home from the hospital, you can get them to get the info from the hospital sooner (now, the hospital sends the information to them directly instead of you taking it to them). We called the registry of births when our daughter was less than a week old so we could get the birth certificate earlier as we were going to Australia when she was 8 weeks old. We went there when she was around a week old and you pick it up just 30 min or so after you apply.

For the passport photo, it has to be straight on, eyes open, mouth closed, "neutral expression" on face - I found it easiest to take the photo at home with her laying on a white sheet - in the first couple of weeks, they sleep so much and I could never get to a photo place in those couple of half hrs here and there when she was alert and content. We had to photoshop the background a little because of shadows, but then you can take it to a regular photo place and tell them it's for Australian passport photos and they'll do it all the right size for you.

After you get the passport, you also have to apply for some kind of "visa" for their passport saying that they have the right to stay in Hong Kong - that takes another couple of weeks. I guess if they don't have that, when they re-enter Hong Kong, it could cause problems at immigration, I dunno - maybe they'd only get the standard 90 days for a regular Australian passport?? *shrugs*

But from birth to getting the passport and the "visa" thing for their passport, it took us about 7 weeks.