HK's Immigration will extend its working hours to cope with the surge in travel documents collection

Hong Kong’s Immigration Department made statements on Wednesday to meet up with the recent challenge as the number of passport applicants reached a record high, this month.The office opening hours on the next two Saturdays for the collection of travel documents would be extended, it said.

The travel documents concerned are the Hong Kong SAR passport, Document of Identity for Visa Purposes and the Hong Kong Re-entry Permit.

The department announced that all the seven branches including the department’s headquarters in Wanchai will start to open from 2pm-9pm on 15th and 22nd of July for residents to collect their travel documents.

Yeung Suk-yee, a principal immigration officer at the department's documents division said on Wednesday that "the demand for travel document collection surges during the summer, the department hopes to help residents despite pressure on manpower, out of a commitment to a people-centric spirit. Hence, we will extend collection hours for travel documents."

She said further that the authorities had increased its staff number by one-third to meet up with large number of applicants since the city dropped its pandemic-related travel restrictions.

Yeung said the department was focusing to disparse 10,000 travel documents over these two Saturdays.

It was reported that more than 900,000 passport applications were received by the immigration in the first half of this year, exceeding the annual total of 720,000 in 2019.

The requirments for collecting the new passport are acknowledgement slip, Hong Kong identity card and their expired documents. While children below age of 16 are to be accompanied by a parent or guardian for the collection.

香港入境處將延長工作時間應對領取旅行證件激增

香港入境事務處週三發表聲明，以應對本月護照申請人數量創歷史新高的挑戰。該處表示，未來兩個週六領取旅行證件的辦事處開放時間將延長 。

涉及的旅行證件為香港特別行政區護照、簽證身份書及香港回港證。

入境處宣布，包括灣仔入境處總部在內的所有七間分行將於7月15日至22日下午2時至9時開放，供居民領取旅行證件。

入境處證件組首席入境事務主任楊淑儀週三表示，“夏季期間領取旅行證件的需求激增，入境處希望在人手壓力下幫助居民，秉持以人為本的理念” 因此，我們將延長旅行證件的領取時間。”

她進一步表示，自從該市取消與大流行相關的旅行限制以來，當局已將工作人員數量增加了三分之一，以滿足大量申請人的需求。

楊說，該部門的重點是在這兩個星期六分發 10,000 份旅行證件。

據悉，今年上半年移民局共收到超過90萬份護照申請，超過2019年全年72萬份。

領取新護照的要求是確認回條、香港身份證及其過期文件。 16歲以下兒童須由家長或監護人陪同領取。