Mainland China does not recognise dual nationality. A Chinese national who has settled in Australia and voluntarily becomes an Australian citizen automatically loses Chinese nationality under the PRC Nationality Law, and the household registration (hukou) is then cancelled. You do not lose your property in China or your right to inherit there, but almost everything held under your old Chinese identity card (property title, bank accounts, social insurance, the documents your family will need when someone dies) has to be looked at again, preferably before the citizenship ceremony rather than after it.

This article covers mainland Chinese law in general terms only. For advice on a particular matter there, we work alongside lawyers and tax advisers in mainland China.

Chinese nationality: what the law says

Two provisions of the Nationality Law of the People’s Republic of China (1980) do most of the work:

• Article 3: the PRC does not recognise dual nationality for Chinese nationals.
• Article 9: a Chinese national who has settled abroad (定居外国) and voluntarily joins or acquires a foreign nationality automatically loses Chinese nationality.

Two points follow. First, the loss is automatic. It does not depend on renouncing, surrendering a passport or cancelling the hukou. Australian citizenship by conferral generally takes effect when you make the pledge of commitment at the ceremony, and as a general rule that is when PRC law treats Chinese nationality as lost. Second, Article 9 refers to a person who has settled abroad, which a permanent resident who has lived here long enough to qualify for citizenship will ordinarily be.

Australia, by contrast, permits dual citizenship. The conflict comes entirely from the PRC side.

Hukou cancellation and tax clearance

Once Chinese nationality is lost, public security practice is to cancel the hukou (注销户口), and the resident identity card and PRC passport are no longer valid for that person. Cancellation is handled by the local public security bureau where the hukou is registered, and the documents it asks for vary from place to place.

Article 13 of mainland China’s Individual Income Tax Law requires a person who cancels their Chinese household registration because they are moving abroad to complete a tax clearance (税款清算) before the cancellation. In practice this means completing the annual reconciliation for the year and paying any outstanding tax. We cover the tax clearance process and the timing of tax residence in more detail in Moving From Mainland China to Australia.

The hukou cancellation certificate (户口注销证明) issued by the public security bureau is worth keeping carefully. It is often the document that links your old Chinese identity to your Australian passport, and banks, property registries and notary offices in China commonly ask for it.

Travelling to China after citizenship

After the ceremony you enter and leave mainland China as an Australian citizen, on your Australian passport. At the time of writing, Australian ordinary passport holders can enter mainland China visa-free for up to 30 days for business, tourism, visiting family or friends, exchanges or transit, under a unilateral policy that the Chinese consulates in Australia have announced runs to 31 December 2026. Longer stays, or other purposes such as work or study, require a visa. Check the current policy before each trip.

Do not continue to use a PRC passport or identity card after becoming an Australian citizen. Those documents are no longer valid for you under PRC law, and using them can create serious problems at the border and with Chinese authorities.

Property in mainland China

Keeping property you already own

Losing Chinese nationality does not take away property you already own. What changes is the identity in which you hold it: the register shows your old identity card number, and you now deal with the registry as an Australian passport holder.

Consider a typical situation. A couple from Shanghai become Australian citizens after several years here. Their Shanghai apartment is registered in the wife’s name under her old identity card, and their Australian Wills were made before citizenship. Nothing about the apartment changes at the ceremony, but if the wife later dies, her executor must prove to a Shanghai notary office that the Australian citizen named in the death certificate is the registered owner. That is much easier if she has updated the register, or at least kept the documents that link her two identities.

When the property is sold, mortgaged or inherited, the registry or notary office will want proof that the Australian passport holder and the registered owner are the same person: usually the hukou cancellation certificate and other identity documents, sometimes a notarial certificate of identity (同一人公证). Local requirements differ, so confirm them with a lawyer in the relevant city.

Buying more property

Foreign individuals can buy residential property in mainland China, but under national rules generally only housing for their own use, and cities with purchase restrictions apply their own conditions. A purchase that was simple on a Chinese identity card may not be possible after citizenship. Take local advice before signing.

Selling and bringing proceeds to Australia

A foreign national who sells property in China and wants to remit the proceeds to Australia must follow mainland China’s foreign exchange rules. Banks generally ask for the sale contract, evidence of tax paid and the documents linking your identities. The sale may also have Australian tax consequences, discussed in Income and Property in Mainland China While Living in Australia.

Bank accounts and identity documents

Mainland Chinese banks operate under real-name rules. An account opened on a now-invalid identity card can cause problems: failed identity verification or restricted online banking until the details are updated to the new passport. Payment and investment platforms linked to the old identity card number can be affected too. Foreign nationals can generally hold accounts in China on their passport, but each bank has its own re-verification process.

A sensible order is to list every account, securities account, insurance policy and platform held under the old identity card before the ceremony, and to ask each institution what it will need after the change.

Social insurance and pension

Article 6 of the 2011 implementing provisions under mainland China’s Social Insurance Law (人社部令第13号) deals with two situations. A person who settles abroad before reaching the statutory retirement age keeps their basic pension individual account, and benefits are paid under national rules once the conditions are met. A person who has lost PRC nationality may apply in writing, on departure or afterwards, to end the basic pension insurance relationship, in which case the individual account balance is paid out as a lump sum after the agency explains the consequences in writing.

Whether to keep the account or close it out depends on your age, contribution history and plans. People already receiving a pension in China while living in Australia are usually asked for periodic proof of life.

Inheritance rights in China are not lost

Changing nationality does not take away a right to inherit in mainland China. The PRC Civil Code sets out the circumstances in which an heir loses the right to inherit, such as intentionally killing the deceased or forging or destroying a will, and nationality is not among them. Foreign nationals inherit from parents and other relatives in China in the same way as Chinese nationals, including inheriting residential property.

What does change is the paperwork. To have an inheritance of Chinese property or bank deposits recognised, heirs usually go through a succession notarisation (继承权公证) at a Chinese notary office, or a court process where that is not possible. As a foreign national, you will prove identity and relationship with documents notarised in Australia and carrying an Apostille. The process is explained in Australian Citizen Inheriting Property in China.

Which country’s law governs succession to a particular asset is a separate question. Under mainland China’s choice-of-law rules, succession to immovable property in China is generally governed by Chinese law, while succession to movable property where there is no will generally follows the law of the deceased’s habitual residence at death. Australian conflict-of-laws rules are broadly similar, so a family with assets in both countries is usually dealing with two legal systems at once.

Wills and estate planning across both countries

A Will made before citizenship

In Victoria, changing nationality does not revoke a Will. A Will is revoked by marriage (subject to exceptions), by divorce in relation to gifts to the former spouse, by a later Will or by destruction, not by a change of passport. Even so, citizenship is a good moment to review it. Older Wills often identify the testator and assets by a Chinese identity card number that no longer exists, or appoint executors in China who may find it harder to act.

Assets in both countries

For many families the better structure is an Australian Will dealing with Australian assets and a separate Will made for assets in mainland China, drafted so that neither one accidentally revokes the other. The PRC Civil Code generally gives effect to the later will where two wills conflict, so revocation clauses and the scope of each Will need careful drafting. We discuss the options in Assets in Australia and Overseas: Do You Need More Than One Will?

Documents for use in China

Mainland China joined the Hague Apostille Convention with effect from 7 November 2023. Australian public documents, including documents notarised by an Australian notary public, can now be used in mainland China with an Apostille issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, without the former Chinese consular legalisation. An Apostille does not guarantee acceptance, so confirm the receiving office’s requirements for format, translation and currency. See Apostille for a Power of Attorney or Will From Australia to Asia.

Family matters

• Marriage: a marriage registered in mainland China remains valid after either spouse becomes an Australian citizen.
• Divorce and property: Australian courts can hear a divorce if either spouse is an Australian citizen, is domiciled in Australia, or is ordinarily resident here and has lived here for the 12 months before filing. Property in China can be taken into account in an Australian property settlement, though enforcement in China is a separate issue.
• Children: under Article 5 of the Nationality Law, a child born abroad to Chinese parents is generally a Chinese national, except where a parent is settled abroad and the child acquired a foreign nationality at birth. Children included in a parent’s citizenship application face the same Article 9 consequences as their parents.
• Parents in China: if you look after an elderly parent’s affairs in China, confirm that any authority you hold still works once you are a foreign national, and whether a new notarised power of attorney is needed.

Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan: a different position

The rules above are written for mainland Chinese nationals with a mainland hukou. The position is different elsewhere:

• Hong Kong SAR and Macao SAR: under the National People’s Congress Standing Committee’s explanations on applying the Nationality Law in the two SARs, Chinese residents may use foreign passports for travel but remain Chinese nationals unless they declare a change of nationality to the relevant authority (in Hong Kong, the Immigration Department), and they are not entitled to foreign consular protection in the SAR or elsewhere in China. Take Hong Kong or Macao advice before making any declaration.
• Taiwan: under Taiwan’s Nationality Act, a national who voluntarily acquires a foreign nationality loses Taiwan nationality only on application and with the approval of the Ministry of the Interior, so many Taiwanese who become Australian citizens keep both. Holding a foreign nationality restricts eligibility for public office in Taiwan, and household registration and health insurance have separate residence rules.

The Australian side: citizenship by conferral

Most mainland Chinese permanent residents apply for citizenship by conferral. In general terms an applicant must:

• meet the general residence requirement: four years’ lawful residence in Australia immediately before applying, including the last 12 months as a permanent resident, with no more than 12 months’ absence in total over the four years and no more than 90 days in the final year;
• pass the citizenship test (generally required for applicants aged 18 to 59), which tests knowledge of Australia, English and Australian values;
• be of good character, and intend to live in Australia or maintain a close and continuing association with it; and
• attend a ceremony and make the pledge of commitment.

Two of our lawyers are Accredited Specialists in Immigration Law (Law Institute of Victoria), and the firm assists with citizenship applications, including those involving complex travel histories and children. Because the ceremony fixes when Chinese nationality is lost, it helps to coordinate the application with the asset steps above.

Practical points: a timeline

When	What to consider
Before applying	List assets, accounts, policies and platforms held under your Chinese identity card. Ask a mainland China tax adviser about tax clearance. Review Australian and Chinese Wills and powers of attorney.
Before the ceremony	Deal with any transaction that is easier on a Chinese identity card. Close unneeded accounts. Decide on social insurance with local advice. Consider children’s position.
After the ceremony	Stop using PRC travel and identity documents. Complete hukou cancellation and keep the certificate. Update banks and, where needed, the property register. Update Wills.
Ongoing	Keep a set of identity-linking documents (cancellation certificate, old and new passports, certified translations) for your executor and family.

Common mistakes

• Assuming that Chinese nationality continues until the hukou is cancelled. Under Article 9 it is lost automatically.
• Continuing to use a PRC passport or identity card after the ceremony.
• Leaving property registered under a cancelled identity card number until someone dies, so that the executor has to prove identity without the owner’s help.
• Making a new Will in one country that accidentally revokes the Will in the other.
• Losing the hukou cancellation certificate, which is often the only document linking the old and new identities.

How we can assist

We advise on the Australian side of the move: citizenship applications, Australian Wills and enduring powers of attorney coordinated with arrangements in mainland China, notarised and apostilled documents for use there, and Australian estates and family matters with assets in China. Where mainland China, Hong Kong or Taiwan law applies, we work with lawyers and tax advisers in those places so that the two sides are planned together. Matters are handled confidentially, and family disagreements can often be resolved through mediation rather than in open court.

Related reading

• Australian Citizen Inheriting Property in China
• Assets in Australia and Overseas: Do You Need More Than One Will?
• Moving From Mainland China to Australia
• Apostille for a Power of Attorney or Will From Australia to Asia
• Source of Wealth Checks in Australia: What Chinese and Taiwanese Families Should Prepare Under the New AML Rules
• Enforcing Chinese and Taiwanese Judgments in Australia (and Australian Judgments There): A Guide for Families and Businesses
• Overseas and Hidden Assets in Australian Divorce and Estate Disputes: China, Taiwan and Hong Kong
• Divorced in Mainland China, Property in Australia: Recognition, Property Orders and What to Do Next

Chua Tan Associates acts for families and their professional advisers on Australian legal matters with a cross-border dimension, working alongside lawyers and tax advisers in mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. To arrange a confidential consultation, please contact our Melbourne office on +61 3 9602 3988 or submit an enquiry. Advice is available in English, Mandarin and Cantonese.

Justin Chua (蔡智勋), lawyer and mediator, Chua Tan Associates, Melbourne. General information only, not legal or tax advice.