Alright, so the other day, I had to do some stuff with Chinese identity numbers. This is what happened.
First off, I needed to know what these things even are. I mean, I’ve seen them around, but never really paid attention. So, I did what anyone would do – I went and looked it up. Turns out, if you’re living in China, you gotta have one of these Resident Identity Cards. It’s basically your ID, and it’s got 18 digits on it. Kinda like our Social Security number, but way longer.
So, after I figured that out, I wanted to know who can get these numbers. It’s not just for anyone, you know? There are rules. From what I gathered, there’s this thing called the “CNL”, and if you meet the requirements in Articles 7 and 8, you can apply to be a Chinese national. That’s like becoming a citizen. And if you’re a citizen, you get an ID number. Makes sense, right?
Then, I got curious about how to actually get one of these numbers if you are already eligible. Let’s say you’re already a Chinese national. It looks like you need to make an appointment using your Hong Kong identity card number. Seems straightforward. It seems like there is an Immigration Department in the HKSAR Government (IMMD) to deal with such things.
But what if you’re not in Hong Kong? Well, there’s an application for that, too. It’s called “Application for Naturalization as a Chinese National (for overseas)”, and there’s a separate one for people under 18, labeled as ID 924. So, they’ve got everyone covered.
And, get this – you even need your national ID number when you’re applying for a Chinese visa. It’s like, everywhere! So it is really a big deal.
So, yeah, that’s what I learned about Chinese identity numbers. Not the most exciting topic, but hey, you never know when this stuff might come in handy. I just thought I’d share my little adventure in figuring out these ID numbers. You learn something new every day, I guess!