Law

1. Citizenship Law

a. Jus sanguinis Provisions

The Peoples’ Republic of China’s nationality laws operate through a jus sanguinis structure. Children born within the territory of China to a Chinese national parent or parents gain Chinese nationality. Children born outside of China to a Chinese national parent or parents gain Chinese nationality unless one or both parent/s have settled abroad, and the child acquires another nationality at birth. China’s citizenship legislation does not provide a definition of a stateless person, leaving this up to the discretion of authorities.

b. Naturalized Citizenship

There is a naturalization process which is explicitly mentioned to be available to stateless persons as well as foreigners. Foreign or stateless persons willing to abide by the constitution and laws of China, and fulfilling one of the following criteria, can apply for Chinese nationality if they are ‘near relatives’ of Chinese nationals, they are ‘settled in China’, or have ‘other legitimate reasons’. Those whose applications for Chinese nationality are approved shall be granted Chinese nationality and may not retain foreign nationality. There are no provisions included in China’s legislation which details the renunciation process. The Ministry of Public Security will issue a certificate when applications are approved.

There are no specific rules or judicial interpretation to clarify the scope of ‘near relatives’ and the meaning of ‘settled in China’. However, based on the Application Form for Naturalization from the official website of the National Immigration Administration, close relatives include a spouse, parent, child or sibling. While there is persistent ambiguity and no explicit specification on the meaning of “settled in China”, the Application Form includes a specified circumstance of permanent residence.Further, on China’s government website, the listed application materials required to gain Chinese citizenship includes a copy of a foreign passport and a copy of the Foreigner’s Permanent Residence Card. In order to be granted permanent residence in China, one must satisfy at least one of the listed requirements, which includes but is not limited to having investments in China for three consecutive years, holding a high career title and residing in the country for four consecutive years, or having made an outstanding contribution to and being specially needed by China. There are currently no provisions or explanations provided for what may constitute ‘other legitimate reasons’.

The requirement to show a copy of the applicant’s passport in the application may act as a barrier to stateless persons who often do not have passports. There is no simplified or expedited procedure for stateless persons or refugees.

c. Dual Citizenship

Dual citizenship is not recognized in China. Chinese citizens settled abroad who voluntarily acquire foreign nationality shall automatically lose their Chinese nationality. Foreigners who have previously held Chinese nationality may apply to resume their Chinese nationality if they have proper reason to do so, while those approved to resume Chinese nationality may not retain their foreign nationality.

2. Treaty Ratification

While China has yet to ratify the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, it has ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, the ICESCR, ICERD, CRC, and CEDAW with no relevant reservations. China has also signed, but not ratified, the ICCPR.

In 2018 concluding observations, the CERD Committee expressed concerns regarding the fact that asylum seekers from North Korea are not registering the births of their children born in China, who are reportedly stateless, out of fear of facing refoulement upon registering the births. As a party to the CRC, China is obligated to ensure that all births in its territory are registered immediately as well as that no child is left stateless. Further, as a party to the Refugee Convention and its Protocol, it is further obligated to ensure non-refoulement.

Similar concerns were expressed in 2023 concluding observations by the CEDAW Committee regarding children born in China to women from North Korea, who are “deprived of their rights to birth registration, nationality, education, and health care because their birth cannot be registered without exposing the mother to the risk of deportation to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.” It was recommended that China ensure that children born to women from North Korea are eligible for citizenship and obtain birth registration. Lack of access to birth registration increases their risk of statelessness and lowers access to basic services. The 2023 concluding observations by the CEDAW Committee also noted concern regarding the “confiscation of passports from Tibetan and Uyghur women”. The Committee further recommended that China ensure that “passports are not confiscated on the basis of ethnic minority status” as well as amend nationality legislation which prohibits dual nationality.

In 2013 concluding observations by the CRC Committee, it was noted that birth registration in remote areas of China is poor “among girls, migrant children, adopted children and children whose birth would put a family above the limit of the locally “sanctioned” family size”. The Committee expressed concerns regarding family household registration (hukou), which birth registration relates to and can be a barrier for registration for children of migrant workers. It was also recommended that China abandon the hukou system to improve access to birth registration. The hukou system is a form of civil registration that also acts as the legal basis for personal identification. Children inherit the same hukou location and categorization as their parents and are not able to permanently reside or exercise a variety of rights outside of their hukou location.

Status of Accession of International Human Rights Treaties in East Asia

Country	Stateless 1	Stateless 2	Refugee	ICCPR	ICESCR	ICERD	CRC	CEDAW
People’s Republic of China

Signifies that the country is a party to the convention

Stateless 1 – 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons

Signifies that the country is not a party to the convention

Stateless 2 – 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness

Population

1. Reported Stateless Persons

China has not reported any stateless persons to UNHCR since it began compiling such data in 2019. UNHCR has noted China as a country which has information regarding stateless people but no reliable data.

2. Persons at Risk of Statelessness

Several independent articles have examined stateless populations and those at risk of statelessness within China, which include children born in China to North Korean women, foreign spouses, and children excluded from the hukou household registration system. As many as 30,000 children born in the territory of China to undocumented North Korean mothers (some of whom have been trafficked into China) and Chinese fathers are at risk of statelessness as they remain unregistered at birth and in the household registration system. Despite having the right to citizenship through their fathers under the citizenship law of China, children frequently remain unregistered due to their mother’s undocumented status and potential deportation and its repercussions on the mother and child.

The Uyghur population, a Turkic and majority Muslim ethnic group predominantly residing in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, termed by activists as ‘occupied East Turkistan’, in northwest China, continues to face a severe risk of statelessness due to the Chinese government’s systematic denial of passport renewal for Uyghurs living overseas. Other ethnic Muslim minorities, such as Kazakhs and Uzbeks, have also faced similar systemic discrimination. More than one-million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and Uzbeks have been arbitrarily detained by the Chinese government since 2017. The government insists that Uyghurs return to China for passport renewal, however, this is a dangerous proposition considering there are many reported forced disappearances. Those who do not return also face living abroad without citizenship, severely impacting their livelihoods, freedom of movement, and ability to establish new lives outside China. This denial of passports is a strategy of control by the Chinese government that violates international human rights standards, rendering Uyghurs stateless in countries where they cannot apply for refugee status. Hui peoples, another Muslim ethnic minority group, have also been recognized as facing systemic discrimination when attempting to apply for passports. The Chinese government’s discriminatory policies, treating Muslim ethnic minorities as threats to national security, further increase the risk of statelessness among these populations in China.

The Tibetan population of China, historically having faced occupation and systemic discrimination, also experiences a significant risk of statelessness. The Chinese government’s stringent control over Tibetans’ movements involves the systematic denial and recall of passports. Gaining access to a passport is an incredibly hard task for Tibetans. Only a minimal number of Tibetans in the Tibet Autonomous Region and other Tibetan areas have been issued passports, and many have experienced the confiscation of their existing ones. The denial of passport issuance is not only an individual punishment but also extends to families and friends, especially those associated with political prisoners or individuals involved in protests. This denial often comes with increased militarization and security measures, particularly in regions marked by protests and dissent over China’s occupation of Tibet.

3. Stateless Refugee

The scale of statelessness in China is uncertain; however, the requirement to register children and maintain registration in the household registration system (hukou) leaves millions with an uncertain status. China’s 2010 census showed that at least 13 million children lacked hukou registration, preventing them from accessing the full rights of citizens. This group covers both children born to irregular migrants (discussed above) as well as those born outside of China’s one-child policy prior to 2016.

4. Undetermined Nationalities

While reported figures of stateless populations may be low in East Asia, thousands of individuals remain with undetermined nationalities. China’s 2010 census showed that at least 13 million children lacked household registration (hukou), preventing them from accessing the full rights of citizens. In Japan’s 2020 census, the nationalities of 131,684 foreigners in Japan were categorized as “stateless and name of country not reported”. Japan is the only country in East Asia with English-language and publicly accessible census statistics that include a stateless/undetermined citizenship status of foreigners.

Additionally, in February 2020, the National Bureau of Statistics in China reported that 280 million people lived outside of the jurisdiction of their household registration – which limits the location where one can live and work — limiting their ability to access government services and education for children and enforce employment and labor rights. While this cohort may officially be considered Chinese nationals, their ability to access any of the accompanying rights is fundamentally limited.

Causes of Statelessness

1. Lack of Legal Safeguards Against Childhood Statelessness

A child born in the territory of China to two stateless parents or parents with undetermined nationality who have settled in China will be a citizen of China.There are no provisions specifically addressing foundlings in the territory. Prior to the dissolution of China’s one-child policy, the country had over 500,000 (largely female) registered orphans who had been abandoned or whose parents had died. In 2021, the figure of abandoned children had reduced to 190,000, from which 98% of the abandoned children in state care lived with a disability or illness.

2. Citizenship Stripping

According to the Nationality Law, a Chinese citizen may renounce their citizenship through an application process that involves satisfying certain preconditions, like settling abroad, being near relatives of foreign nationals, etc. The concept of citizenship stripping is not recognized as a form of punishment under the Criminal Code or any other statutes in Chinese law. At the same time, there are no provisions in China’s legislation which stipulate the renunciation process of previous foreign citizenship in order to apply for Chinese citizenship.

3. Administrative Barriers

Under the nationality laws of China, children born to stateless parents or parents of uncertain nationality who have settled in China are entitled to an automatic grant of nationality. However, the practical application of this law and its interaction with policies and administrative requirements fundamentally limits the applicability of this protection. Requirements for household registration have left potentially millions of children, including those born outside of policy quotas, to unregistered persons and single mothers with uncertain statuses, stateless or at risk of statelessness.

China has not reported any birth registration data to UNICEF, but according to the country’s 2010 census, an estimated 13 to 30 million children were affected by the lack of household registration. This issue stems from citizenship being left to the discretion of bureaucrats and local officials who often refuse to provide registration to children born in violation of the former one-child policy or those born to North Korean women. The absence of proper documentation for these children puts them at severe risk of statelessness and affects their ability to access essential resources and rights. There is a lack of recent data regarding this issue, especially as China has not reported any data to UNICEF from 2013-2022 regarding its birth registration rates, but estimates as of 2017 suggest that the issue persists. Birth registration in remote areas is especially low for girls, migrant children, adopted children, children who exceed the “sanctioned” family size, and those affected by the hukou system. Excessive administrative requirements have also been identified as a barrier to birth registration for many households.

The Medical Certificate of Birth serves as the legal and medical evidence for a person’s proof of citizenship, record of birth, blood relations, and the registration of residence. The issuance of the Medical Certificate of Birth would, however, first require parents to present their valid identity documents (such as an ID card or passport). Stateless parents or parents of uncertain nationality generally do not possess valid identity documents. As such, it would be difficult for these parents to obtain the Medical Certificate of Birth for their children. Given that the Medical Certificate of Birth generally serves as the legal and medical evidence for a person’s proof of citizenship and record of birth, the authority may require such certificate to be submitted in reviewing the application for nationality pursuant to Article 6 of the Nationality Law. Accordingly, lack of such certificate will present substantial difficulties in obtaining Chinese nationality pursuant to Article 6 of the Nationality Law in practice. In addition, the children would not be able to complete birth registration if the Medical Certificate of Birth is absent.

In China, the birth of a newborn is required to be registered with the authority for household registration at the place of residence. According to birth registration guidelines published by local authorities, in order to register the birth of a newborn, it would require at least the Medical Certificate of Birth for the newborn, valid identity documents of the parents, and the local household registration documents of the parents (which will not be available to stateless parents or parents of uncertain nationality because the household registration authority would require the applicant to first obtain Chinese nationality). The aforementioned documents are unlikely to be available to stateless parents or parents of uncertain nationality, leaving them unable to register their children’s births.

Birth registration is essentially part of the household registration system (hukou), which determines citizenship rights including social services, healthcare, employment, and other welfare benefits for residents in China. Without completing the birth registration, the children would not be able to enjoy full citizenship rights in China. The nature of birth registration and the rights attached to it are not expressly provided in law, but rather a well-known fact deriving from the practical difficulties for unregistered individuals to enjoy citizenship rights in China.

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