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Shenzhen relaxes HK visa rules

By Qiu Quanlin (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-04-01 11:06

SHENZHEN: Permanent residence permit holders here can from today apply for unlimited passes to visit the neighboring city of Hong Kong within a year, local public security authorities said.

"The new rule, which allows application for year-round multiple-entry visas, would help expand individual travels by hukou (residence permit) holders to Hong Kong," said Bian Dongfeng, deputy director of the entry and exit department under the Shenzhen public security bureau.

About 2.2 million Shenzhen residents will benefit from the new visa rule. Previously, they could only apply for a double-entry visa to Hong Kong lasting three months to a year.

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But more than 120,000 hukou-holding government servants will be not included in the program, Bian said, without elaborating.

Bian called the public to stagger their application timings as a rush is likely. The police have added 68 new counters and deployed more than 100 officers to deal with the applications, Bian told a press conference Tuesday.

The police are also considering online and postal application services in the near future, Bian said.

A multi-entry visa will cost 100 yuan ($15), said Bian, adding that residents under 18 must be accompanied by parents or supervisors when applying for the service.

He said another program that would allow 6.44 million non-hukou residents of Shenzhen to apply for unlimited passes to Hong Kong remained uncertain.

Shenzhen Mayor Xu Zongheng had said at this year's National People's Congress session in Beijing that non-hukou residents would also be allowed to visit Hong Kong with unlimited passes within a year from May 1, as agreed by the top leaders of Guangdong province and Hong Kong earlier in March.

A businessman surnamed Hu from Foshan, who runs a garment business in Shenzhen and travels to Hong Kong frequently on business trips, said he expected the new visa rule to be extended to non-hukou residents soon.

"In the long term, residents in other Pearl River Delta cities should also benefit from such a convenient visa rule. People now travel frequently between these cities and Hong Kong," Hu said.