Cross-border ticket rush for some Hongkongers as policy allowing those with expired travel permits to enter mainland China takes effect
- New policy by Beijing aimed at easing crunch since border between city and rest of country reopened in February after years of pandemic shutdown
- Visa issuing offices in city had been flooded with applications before new move extending use of expired permits until end of year
The West Kowloon terminus in Jordan for the Guangzhou-Shenzhen–Hong Kong Express Rail Link was moderately busy on Monday morning. While most passengers in line were mainland visitors heading home following the May 1 “golden week” holiday, some were locals attempting to buy tickets on the first day of the new measure taking effect.
Hongkongers can use expired mainland Chinese travel permits to cross border
Among residents eyeing a trip up north was Chan Chi-king, who successfully bought tickets at the station for his entire family to travel to Jiangxi on May 17.
While his own permit was still up to date, his daughter and wife’s documents had expired in 2020.
“I personally came to the station because I wasn’t sure if I’d run into problems buying tickets online,” he said. “We are really glad to be able to head up for my niece’s wedding.”
Asked whether he anticipated running into issues across the border with expired passes, he said while he was “a little worried”, he would tackle the problems if and when they came.
Another buyer, Lau Yuen-fong, whose permit expired in November 2020, was at the West Kowloon station to get a ticket to Hunan to visit relatives.
Lau said she had previously attempted to renew her permit but gave up after struggling to make an online booking.
Catherine Cheung, meanwhile, was at the West Kowloon station to see off friends travelling to Guizhou for a holiday.
“I was meant to go with them, but my permit expired in March this year,” she said. “By the time I learned about the extension, there were no tickets left.”
Long wait for passports, mainland permits in Hong Kong as applications surge
The National Immigration Administration announced on April 28 that mainland travel permits for Hong Kong and Macau residents with expiry dates between January 1, 2020, and December 30, 2023, would remain valid for border crossings until December 31 of this year.
The country’s immigration authority said it recognised there was a surge in demand for travel between the special administrative regions and the mainland now that border ports had fully resumed normal services.
It added that many Hong Kong and Macau residents were struggling to renew their permits, and faced long queues at visa offices.
The announcement came after Hong Kong’s China Travel Service (CTS) offices, which issue permits and visas for trips to the mainland, struggled to deal with an influx of new applications after the border fully reopened in February.
CTS stopped accepting walk-in requests and required all applicants to secure an appointment online first.
Checks by the Post in April found booking slots, which were released four months in advance, were fully snatched up until August, while new ones made available at midnight each day would be taken within minutes.
Hongkongers get dubious offers to cut queue for mainland China travel permits
But following the National Immigration Administration’s announcement on April 28, congestion on the CTS website’s booking system appeared to have eased, aided by longer opening hours at some offices and bookable slot dates that have been extended to December 30.
A check by the Post on Monday found online availability on the same or next day for its four centres across the New Territories and Kowloon, with the Kowloon East and New Territories East offices in Kowloon Bay and Sha Tin showing slots that could be booked for as late as 8.10pm – more than three hours past the usual closing time of 5pm.
Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Island branch in Sheung Wan remained fully booked until September.
