Dual-national CN/DE, ESTA with DE passport, while B1/B2 for CN processing is applied

[appleblossom 2,448]

2 hours ago, Operator said:

In order leave the country you have to prove that you are able to enter the country you are traveling to.  With no visa in their Chinese passport they can't do that.

 

As I said in the post above that you've part quoted "But I’m guessing there’s a reason you can’t do that?". If China actually requires people to prove that before they let them leave the country (🤯), then that's the reason isn't it.

[derdre 2]

@Operator Thanks for reaching out, it is never too late. Even though, I promised to report back to this thread whenever I have news.

 

As for your post, this is exactly the way I'm going and what you're writing about is the so called Exit & Entry permit (出入境通行证), actually a little blue booklet, similar to a passport.

For our summer travel plans (CN -> DE -> US -> CN) with my two boys and their German/EU passport this seems to be the only reasonable way to go. I also talked to another friend of mine in Sichuan, he did the same and it worked. All I need to watch out for is, that the Chinese government is not getting the silly idea to cancel the boys Hukou (household registry) cause they both would lose all the benefits a Chinese citizen enjoys (school, insurance, social, etc. ). I read that a Hukou cancellation has happened to some people in the same situation, however, this is not a national policy, it's rather a local decision. I will figure this out by next week and apply for the Exit & Entry permit. Afaik it gonna take approx. 5 days processing time.

As I see, this topic is of some interest. I will promise to keep this updated until all questions/issues are resolved on our side. Only this makes it a complete solution, maybe of help to others. 

Edited June 4 by derdre
Added addt. Info, Exit&Entry permit in Chinese

[derdre 2]

Just to give a little update on this topic:

• Last week Thursday I applied for the so called Exit & Entry permit that allows my boys to leave China and travel to EU/Germany using their German passport.
  The application was actually simple and I was able to do the entire task my own as the father, my wife (and mother, who is working in the US) was not required to be present, only her ID-card. All required documents were presented to the officer, including a filled out application form for each of my son, as well the flight booking (e-ticket) with their western/Pinyin names as stated in the German passport.
  Tomorrow, June 25th, I can pick up these travel documents, the processing time is only about 3-5 business days, at least here in southern Guangdong. That document is valid for one exit and entry.
   
• Last week Wednesday, I applied for ESTA using the German passport and the was approved within one hour after submission. So also this topic is resolved and let us continue our journey to the US from Germany.

So, this said, everything is resolved and we're all set for our EU/US trip.

When it comes to the next trip to the US, in that case most likely from China directly, I may have a chance using neighboring Hong Kong as an intermediate hop into the US. However, this is a different story and I will come back to report on this as well.

Thanks to the forum and your responses which really shed some light on the topic. Y'all replies were much appreciated help!