Hong Kong, Macao residents can apply for travel permits on mainland

Residents of the Hong Kong and Macao special administration regions can apply to renew and reissue their Mainland Travel Permit for Hong Kong and Macao Residents on the Chinese mainland beginning Oct 10, and collect the permit within seven days, the immigration authority said on Monday.

Applicants can apply to the exit and entry administration departments at or above county-level, and the application procedures are the same as in Hong Kong and Macao, according to the national Exit and Entry Administration.

Those applying need to submit required materials and pay registration fees through the application windows at exit and entry departments and can choose to collect the permit through the mail or in person. Also, people with urgent needs can use the "green channel", allowing them to get the travel permit that day.

Applicants can search registration sites, make appointments for processing and inquire about the processing progress through the online service platform provided by the administration. At present, there are over 3,000 immigration administration registration sites at or above county-level available for applicants.

The permit is a legal entry and exit document for Hong Kong and Macao residents to enter and exit the mainland. Since the return of Hong Kong and Macao to the motherland, the number of Hong Kong and Macao residents who enter and exit the mainland has been growing, said Yin Chengji, the administration’s deputy director.

In the past, Hong Kong and Macao residents whose travel permits expired or were lost or damaged during their stay on the mainland had to return to Hong Kong or Macao to apply for a replacement, which resulted in an unnecessary cost in time and was an economic burden, Yin said.

Residents from Hong Kong and Macao made 215 million trips to and from the mainland in 2019, which is 2.5 times the number in 1996, Yin added.

Additionally, the administration has taken a series of measures to ensure the security, efficiency and orderly issuance of travel documents. The whole procedure will adopt information management, and the administration can realize synchronous and real-time interaction with the certification data of Hong Kong and Macao. Meanwhile, it also will adopt a special network to ensure the security of information data transmission, said Bao Yongqiang, deputy director of the administration’s Information Technology Institute.