Personal Documentation

The issue of the HKSAR passport is strictly controlled by the Immigration Department. Under the HKSAR Passports Ordinance, eligibility is limited to Chinese citizens who are Hong Kong permanent residents holding permanent identity cards. The passport contains advanced anti-forgery design features.

Applications can be made either by post or in person. Those from overseas can be sent to the Immigration Department through the nearest Chinese diplomatic or consular missions. All HKSAR passports are prepared centrally by the Immigration Department in Hong Kong, for collection either locally or at the relevant Chinese diplomatic or consular missions overseas. During the year, 433 624 applications were received, including 3 964 from overseas.

The HKSAR Passports Appeal Board was established on September 7, 1998 to handle appeals against refusal of applications for HKSAR passports. It received 46 appeals in 2001.

The Justice and Home Affairs Council of the European Union adopted a Council Regulation on March 15, 2001, which grants visa-free access to HKSAR passport holders with effect from April 10, 2001. The visa-free grant is a milestone in the Government's efforts to enhance travel convenience for HKSAR passport holders. It signifies the confidence of the European Union in the implementation of the 'one country, two systems' principle and the Government's effective immigration control under such arrangement. Apart from the European Union's action, the Government has also secured visa-free access for HKSAR passport holders to other European countries. By the end of the year, 104 countries/territories had agreed to accord visa-free facilities to HKSAR passport holders. The Government will continue to lobby other countries to secure maximum travel convenience for HKSAR passport holders.

To strengthen mutual co-operation with the European Community in combating illegal immigration, the Government initialled a readmission agreement with the Community on November 22, 2001, which provides a basis for the readmission by one party of certain persons coming from the territory of the other contracting party.

Other travel documents issued by the Immigration Department include Documents of Identity for Visa Purposes (DIs) and Re-entry Permits (REPs). DIs are used for international travel and are valid for seven years. They are issued to Hong Kong residents who are not eligible for the HKSAR passport but nevertheless unable to obtain a national passport or travel document of another country. REPs are issued to Hong Kong residents for travelling to the Mainland and the Macau SAR. During the year, 38 205 DIs and 125 335 REPs were issued. To speed up the immigration clearance of REP holders, a new machine-readable REP has been in use since December 17, 2001.

The Immigration Department also issues identity cards to Hong Kong residents. There are two types of identity cards: the Hong Kong Permanent Identity Card issued to persons who have the right of abode in Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong Identity Card issued to residents who do not have that right. During the year, 551 896 identity cards were issued: including 313 751 to new arrivals and persons attaining the age of 11 or 18 years, and 208 146 to people who applied for replacement identity cards due to loss, damage or change of personal particulars.

The Government is making preparations to introduce a new generation of identity cards for Hong Kong residents around mid-2003, and thereafter to launch a region-wide identity card replacement exercise to be completed within four years. The new identity card will take the form of a 'smart' card, which will be more secure and have the capacity to support multiple applications. The project will enhance the operational efficiency of the Immigration Department, by laying down the foundation for an automated passenger clearance system. It will also enable the Government to capitalise on the development of 'smart' card technology for providing more efficient and better quality services to the community.

The new identity card project will be implemented in two phases. The total non-recurrent cost will be $1,541 million over a seven-year period from 2001-02 to 2007-08. In March, the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council approved a new commitment for implementing the first phase of the project. Another submission will be made to the Finance Committee in 2002 to increase the commitment by $794 million to carry out the activities in the second phase. To cater for the introduction of the new 'smart' identity cards with multi-application capacity, appropriate legislative amendments will be made.