I'm a British Citizen of Chinese Origin but was born the Philippines, what is my citizenship now then?

I'm a British Citizen of Chinese Origin but was born in the Philippines. My Father was born in Hong Kong and has migrated and lived in Philippines since 1967. I was born on the 31st of October 1989 in Philippines. On my Birth Certificate I am a British Citizen. But I am quite uncertain because they say that British of Chinese Origin that were born in HK are automatically considered a citizen of People's Republic of China since 1997. But then I was not born in HK and I dont even know how to speak chinese. What is really my citizenship and can I still be considered British? or am I a stateless person?

The Dark Side

On your birth certificate it does NOT state that you are a British citizen. It cannot possibly do that - it is only a record of when and where you were born, and what your citizenship is is an entirely different question.

Your father was, at birth, a British Subject and Citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies. In 1983, that was split into three kinds of citizenship, and your father became a British Overseas Territories Citizen as a result of that. You would have been born as a British Overseas Territories Citizen. This status would have been lost in 1997 (as Hong Kong is no longer a British Overseas Territory!) and if you didn't have any other kind of citizenship you would have become a British Overseas Citizen on that date.

If you had been born in HK then China would definitely consider you a Chinese citizen, and China certainly considers that your father is Chinese. But not being in HK now and the fact that you weren't born there or ever lived there puts some doubt on it.

What you haven't mentioned is your mother. Is she a Philippines citizen? If so, then so are you, and in that case, you are just Filipino and don't have any kind of British citizenship at all as you have another citizenship and lost any claim to any kind of British citizenship in 1997.

British citizenship is incredibly complicated because of the British Empire and now there are six different kinds. That's why I've been precise in stating what kind you might be. You can't be a "British Citizen" as that only applies to people with a close connection with the UK itself, and is the only kind that gives an automatic right to live in the UK.

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