Planning to giving birth in HK: questions and considerations

Hi all,


I am a foreigner (Malaysian Chinese) relocating to HK for my new job next week. My wife is 12 weeks pregnant, and we are planning to have her deliver baby in HK next year.


Given this is a big decision to make, a couple of questions to ask:


1) I only have working visa (to be renewed yearly), hence I do not believe I have HKID. does it mean it will cost me a limb to have baby delivered in public hospitals? I have read varying posts about the costs of having a baby delivery in private hospitals. Cost is now a concern for me. I have further consulted my future employer: the company medical insurance does not cover this cost unfortunately.


[edit] I just read that having a work visa in HK would make me eligible for HK ID. if that being the case I assume I would be charged the public fee in public hospitals? thanks in advance.



2) Both my wife and I are ethnic Chinese by birth, though neither we nor our parents were born in China. We are Malaysian Chinese (grandparents from China) actually. Will our baby gain HK PR by default in cases like this?


3) We have read you need to make pre-bookings many weeks in advance, due to influx of mainland Chinese. We also checked quite alot of hospitals are fully booked. Would hospitals actually turn us away even when my wife is about to deliver? Or it would simply charge me more?


Appreciate you reading through my questions above and helping me here. It is not a trivial decision. we need to weight the option between having baby delivered when the father is around in HK, or have baby delivered in Malaysia instead. We also need to consider if baby would gain HK PR so that it gives him/her an added advantage when he/she grows up.


many thanks in advance.

1. Both you and your wife, on a dependant visa of course, would hold HK ID and residency so are entitled to HK public hospital delivery. Make sure your wife has correct visa and ID.


2. No. You need to be a Chinese citizen. From birth you are not. Your baby would require a dependant visa.


3. As soon as you have visa's and ID your wife needs to get to a public clinic as soon as possible. They will inform you of the rest of the details. If you're planning on going public it's not a worry.

Thankyou ED,


so I assume my baby will not gain HK PR by default then. However it is still a relieve to read the rest. it has been very helpful. thanks alot.