Great feedback Laotou. Just one clarification from what I know from my Scottish friend. Children here can't have dual nationality under Chinese law. They are either Chinese or not. His daughter is Chinese BUT he also registered her birth quietly at the British consulate so at any time until she is 18 she can go & claim British citizenship & renounce her Chinese nationality.

.if you are chinese national (born to at least chinese national) you cannot, not be chinese until you are 18 in which case you are just chose you passport but you will still be chinese and can short track on reversing your foreign pasdport decision, unless you completely angered the government.

ignore foreigners saying you can get dual citizenship. it.s illegal and may lead to problems at customs and immigrations.

our hospitals registered with the offices after they found out our fiance was pregnant.

according to the law, and international diplomatic relations, a government cannot restrict foreigners having babies with locals and thus, the birth request thingy is basically illegal when a foreign father is involved. married or not. this info is from a nurse at our hospital.

plus SHE said that certificate is rubbish and almost uninforcible. she said what about late detected pregnancy, or aborted plan to abort. she said nobody at her hospital ever got one or knew about it or cated...or being persecuted not having it FOR THE FIRST.

but as mentioned before check with your hospital to chose to give birth, immigration office and psb. they will guide you in the right direction.

My default expectation is that hospitals, especially private hospitals, operate for profit first, and they would not turn back a paying customer, especially supposedly wealthy foreigner.

I expect they can and will bend rules and claim it's legal, if there is profit.

You can renounce Chinese citizenship before the age of 18, it's a pain but a friend has done it for his young son. This was done in Beijing so it might be more difficult in Yunnan.

You can't have dual citizenship as Chinese Nationality law does not allow it.

BUT...

If you have a Child with a Chinese parent in China then the government allows you to take the Child out of China on a foreign passport as long as you have an Exit Permit for the kid.

@hotwater
Children can be dual nationality - but China won't recognize the foreign passport. Regardless of which passport you use - coming and going - you're Chinese (and they will definitely frown on using the foreign passport for entry/exit, which makes it confusing to travel abroad, as you'll need an exit stamp...

Not putting the child on a Hukou has some advantages.

The government might not recognize the passport but as long as you also have the government issued Exit/Entry permit you are good to go,,,and come back again.

They don't need a visa to stay in China as they are Chinese.

If they have a foreign passport, getting an exit/entry permit is easy and takes about a week (not legal if the kids are on a Hukou, and not possible if the PSB know they are registered on a Hukou) and after the first permit the application can be done in the city where you live, not where the Chinese parent's hukou is.

International schools are allowed to enroll these kids after seeing both the Passport and Exit/Entry permit.

It's a very good system for JV marriages if they plan to take their kids out of China fairly frequently to the fathers "home" country.

The negative side of not being on a Hukou means you won't get a local "free" education or an ID card nor a Chinese passport.

Also if you plan on your kids going to a Chinese Uni, again for "free" here then getting them on a Hukou is important as without one they cannot do the GaoKao.