A German-born teenager is fighting to get his SAR passport back in a landmark case to test the legal effect of the Nationality Law passed by Beijing in September 1980.
He is seeking a ruling on whether children born outside Hong Kong of Chinese parents and who later acquire foreign citizenship are entitled to SAR passports.
Barrister Hectar Pun told the Court of First Appeal yesterday that Patrick Tse Yiu-hon, 16, was entitled to an SAR passport because he fulfilled the two criteria: being a Chinese national and a Hong Kong permanent resident. He argued the Nationality Law defined Yiu-hon's status as a Chinese national.
The three appeal judges were also urged to adopt the interpretation made by the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) on the Nationality Law in May 1996, which Mr Pun argued was in the applicant's favour.
Yiu-hon, born in Wedel, Germany, was given his SAR passport in August 1998, but the passport was cancelled by the Immigration Department in April 1999.
His father, Tse Cheung-nin, 44, and mother, Cheng Oi-kwan, 41, both ethnic Chinese born in Hong Kong, emigrated to Germany in the 1980s and are SAR passport holders. They are deemed to be Chinese nationals because of their place of birth.