Man with SG citizenship who’s been living in China since 2020 charged with illegal residence and employment

SHENZHEN: A man from China acquired citizenship in Singapore some years ago. However, he has lived and worked in China for the past five years, and recently, the authorities in Shenzhen brought charges against him.

According to the China Courts Website, a Mr Zhang entered Shenzhen in 2020 using his Singapore passport and possessing a short-term family visit visa. When his visa expired, he asked for an extension.

His residence, which was registered in Shenzhen in 2018 when he was a returning student, was not cancelled until March 2023.

Mr Zhang began working for a company in Shenzhen in 2007, and reports say that he is still working for that company and receiving a salary from it, which led the authorities to conclude that he had committed illegal residence and employment.

Dual citizenship is not allowed in either China or Singapore.

Mr Zhang admitted to the authorities that he had obtained citizenship in Singapore, although his household registration in Shenzhen still stood.

According to immigration records, he entered and exited China 187 times using his Singapore passport, and he applied for Chinese visas nine times over the past decade.

However, Mr Zhang claimed that since he had never officially renounced his citizenship in China, and his residence and work were located there, this still made him a Chinese citizen.

Nevertheless, the courts in Shenzhen did not accept his arguments, and the penalties for his offence, including a fine, were imposed upon him.

Under China’s Nationality Law

Since China does not recognise dual citizenship, it is illegal for any citizen to hold another nationality while still considering themself a Chinese citizen. When a Chinese national acquires citizenship from another country, it is automatic under the Nationality Law for that person to have lost their Chinese citizenship.

If and when Chinese authorities discover these types of cases, such as Mr Zhang’s, where he was still considered Chinese and continued to live and work in China, there can be both legal and administrative consequences.

For example, their household registration or identity documents can be declared null and void, be made to pay a fine, or, at worst, be deported.

A somewhat related high-profile case involved Yang Hengjun, an academic who was born in China but later acquired Australian citizenship. Mr Yang, who has continued to identify as Chinese, entered Guangzhou in 2019 and was arrested and charged with spying for a foreign country, which he denied. He has spent the succeeding years in prison, though his health has deteriorated. /TISG