Getting permanent residency/citizenship/passport for an Asian country?

[Baas Babelaas]

Been on this board a while, so some of you may know I'm a South African.

As it stands right now SA is devolving into another Zimbabwe, and I only return there to visit family and friends every year or so.

My life is firmly rooted in Asia now, and as such I would like to get myself permanent residency/citizenship, and at a later stage a passport for one of the Asian nations.

I'm in China now, but don't intend to spend my life here. Perhaps a year or three more. In China it's VERY difficult to get permanent residency as a laowai - only a few 100/1000 get this 'right' every year. If you marry a local you get a family visa which has to be renewed every year or so - mafan!!

I would rather get PR/citizenship for a place like HK, Singapore, Taiwan or Malaysia, independent of a spouse (which I currently don't have, and that might only occur a few years down the line).

Which of those would you choose? Obviously I would need to live in that city/region/country for an extended period of time.

I should add I guess that one of the reason for getting the above is that it is becoming more troublesome travelling on and obtaining visas/work permits on a SA passport.

Lastly, I do have an estranged father living in the UK, who remarried to a British woman some 30 years ago and buggered off to the UK about 20 years ago - he'll have a British passport by now - can I get UK citizenship through him?

[baldrick]

he'll have a British passport by now - can I get UK citizenship through him?

probably your best bet - though a timed run through the euro tunnel might be quicker

[terry57]

^

Just a question on South Africa,

Do you think the place is going the way of Zim. ?

Don't think so, it's a long way ahead of that joint.

Shame though, SA is a stunning country.

[Baas Babelaas]

^

Just a question on South Africa,

Do you think the place is going the way of Zim. ?

Don't think so, it's a long way ahead of that joint.

Shame though, SA is a stunning country.

Infrastructure is deteriorating quickly, cronyism and corruption are rife, many many educated (and less educated) people are jobless, crime is off the charts, government healthcare is 'basic', at best.

That's just the beginning.

[terry57]

^

When I was in Cape Town I could not get out of there quick enough.

The feeling of being unsafe was ever present for me.

Bolted back to Thailand.

Stunning city though.

[reddog]

BaasBabelass is on the money,the ANC are world champs in feathering their nests,
Used to have a powerful industrial base, now getting electricity blackouts,going down hill
in a big way.
Don't know about the UK laws but knew plenty who managed to get a UK passport through family line,but think it is getting harder to do.You should of migrated to OZ,NZ
then got their passport like many have,but that meant staying and working there for a few years,best of luck on a UK one if possible.

[chassamui]

Would a Brit passport help in getting residency in HK?

[thaimeme]

Would a Brit passport help in getting residency in HK?

Yeah - there was a time when a British [or "white" Commonwealth] passport was preferred, even envied - opened a lot of doors.

[baldrick]

here you go , become a refugee to the EU

with a bit of experience you may well be able to make a business out of arranging it for your yarpie mates

Jean-Claude Juncker unveils 'bold' plan to open EU's doors to 160,000 refugees

I understand what you have to say about the deterioration in yarpieland - I have worked with a few ( though most of them were cockheads ) and the news from them about home is always pretty sad

I also spent a month in johannesburg recently and it was rather dour - and if you read the dailymaverick things look grim all over

[Davis Knowlton]

OP: I'm a permanent resident in the Philippines, but I am not certain it can be done without a Filipina spouse. My wife is a Flip, and I've lived here 20 years. Still don't think I could get citizenship/passport...not that I'd want it.

I think your thoughts of permanent residence in an Asian country are unlikely to come to fruition unless you have a spouse from that country...and even if you did find a way, after a number of years of residence, to get PR status somewhere, that's a long way from citizenship/passport, which I believe is your eventual goal.

[Horatio Hornblower]

My sister works for a shipping company and was telling me the amount of south africans going to the UK now is astounding.

[david44]

You don't mention age over 50s can get Thai retirement visas with minimal hassle

Married to a Thai or employed here there are other options exhaustively discussed on other channel

Ive met plenty of Scandanavians Germans Brits Irish and Yanks living full time in ASEAN Lao Philipinnes and Malaysia

Often involves odd bung/ front company or visa run

Taiwan is outside many International schemes which has nice climate for Mandarin speaker if you can cope with weather/locals and possibility of re-assimiliation into Zhogguo

Mei Guanxi

[Baas Babelaas]

Lots of decent replies fellas.

Got this from someone on another board:

Singapore: permanent residency after 6 months of employment, citizenship after two years residency. No dual.

Malaysia: permanent residency according to a convoluted point system (how much money you got?), but they do give ten-year renewable visas (see "Malaysia My Second Home"). Citizenship (no dual) can be applied for after something like 12 years (5 if married to a local). Plus you gotta learn some Malay.

PRC: the naturalization rules are vague. Theoretically no dual, but the law is not enforced very consistently, and Chinese people can always reapply.

Hong Kong: permanent residency requires seven years of regular residency. For citizenship, see "PRC" above.

South Korea: citizenship after five years, if employed, and you gotta learn some Korean. It is now possible to apply for permission to retain dual citizenship.

A big question would be, which of these countries do you think you could find gainful employment in? Or failing that, could you bring in enough money to retire on?

And let's not forget political freedoms. Taiwan would top the list, followed by South Korea (unless you're a Communist).

Have you considered Australia? (The Australians apparently believe themselves to be located in Asia.)

To which I replied:

Nice reply ----!

Singapore seems the quickest, and a Singaporean passport goes a long way I reckon - plenty of countries will issue landing visas I'm sure. Not sure about living there - high cost of living, and from what I hear it's a rather sterile place. However the current company I'm working for is Singapore-based, so I might work that angle.

I haven't spent enough time in Malaysia to be sure it would be the place I could settle in. I liked Penang and Lankawi, but you can't judge a country from a 7 day visit. I've heard of the 'Malaysia My Second Home' deal - I'll look further into that. I tried for the last year to find work in Malaysia, and failed. My new job will leave me considerably upskilled in a year or two from now, able to sell myself better to the next wage slave master. I also need to spend more time in Malaysia, and get a real feel for it.

PRC passport/citizenship - no thanks!

A Hong Kong passport would be awesome, see loads of non-Asians with them when I pass through HKIA. Perhaps they were born there?

South Korea - no thank you!

Taiwan - I remember someone on this board got his, and gave up his original passport.

Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Burma, Laos, Vietnam - wonder what the deal on them is..? Still going through their growing pains, not sure I'd want to settle in one of those countries..

Australia - my SA friend moved there and got her Aussie citizenship/permanent residency after a few years. But she's loaded to the gills (dad passed away and left her millions, US$ millions). She bought a couple of properties on the Gold Coast and travels half the year - lucky/lazy gal.

I'd like to hold onto my SA passport. Applying for a visa for cruddy ol' SA is quite a mission these days, believe it or not.

[terry57]

^

Australia is a huge draw for the SA punters.

Melbourne seems to be the go to state, don't know why though.

[nigelandjan]

can I get UK citizenship through him?

Well if you can't mate just make your way over to Syria as were gonna send planes over there soon to pick up all the poor refugees , stick a burkha on and you'll probably get an upgrade on the flight

[Baas Babelaas]

What a clusterfuck this 'refugee' situation is.

Europe's fucked for sure.

[pseudolus]

Would a Brit passport help in getting residency in HK?

No it wouldn't.

HK is relatively easy. You would need to stay there for 7 years and job done. However, you would need a valid reason to be there for 7 years (work etc) so have 7 years worth of consecutive non tourist visas.

[chassamui]

No it wouldn't. HK is relatively easy. You would need to stay there for 7 years and job done. However, you would need a valid reason to be there for 7 years (work etc) so have 7 years worth of consecutive non tourist visas

Surpried by that. I recall when HK was handed back, there was the usual noise from the right wing UK press about a surge in HK refugees wanting to exercise their right to come to UK. There was also a significant number of long term Brit expat families settled there.

[pseudolus]

No it wouldn't. HK is relatively easy. You would need to stay there for 7 years and job done. However, you would need a valid reason to be there for 7 years (work etc) so have 7 years worth of consecutive non tourist visas

Surpried by that. I recall when HK was handed back, there was the usual noise from the right wing UK press about a surge in HK refugees wanting to exercise their right to come to UK. There was also a significant number of long term Brit expat families settled there.

OK. But what has that got to do with getting PR status there today? They are hardly friendly to their ex colonial owners, and neither are the Chinese. The brits living there PR .... have been resident there for more that 7 years....

[chassamui]

^My assumption was based on the fact that the UK government would want to make access for British business interests easier as part of the handover deal. Chris Patten was obviously not up to the mark.