Wealthier Shenzhen parents who plan to give birth to a second child in Hong Kong or overseas could be fined as much as 1 million yuan (HK$1.22 million), according to a new regulation that will come into effect on Tuesday.
Parents who earn more than 20,000 yuan a year would be fined 480,000 yuan; an annual income of 73,000 yuan would be fined 220,000 yuan; and more than 500,000 yuan incomes would face a 1 million yuan fine, the report said.
The new policy would apply to couples of which one or both partners are registered as residents of Shenzhen.
In the past, many parents chose to give birth in Hong Kong or overseas to evade the "social maintenance fees." But now they would be required to pay the penalty when registering their child’s permanent residency, also known as hukou in Chinese, in Shenzhen. They would also be asked to pay the fine if the child had lived in Shenzhen for more than 18 months in the past two years.
With severe penalties looming, anxious Shenzhen parents are debating possible ways to dodge the fines.