Mainland curbs on visa for foreigners in HK to be lifted

Published on September 23, 2008 by brooks | This story has been viewed 433 views

VISA curbs on foreigners entering the mainland via Hong Kong during the Beijing Olympic Games will be lifted from October, officials and travel agents in Shenzhen and Hong Kong said yesterday.

“The visa restrictions that had affected many foreigners traveling to the mainland, as we were told verbally by the Central Government last week, will be lifted from next month,” Yi Nengquan, vice chief of the Shenzhen Municipal Tourism Bureau, said during an exclusive interview with the Shenzhen Daily yesterday.

“But we haven’t received a formal written notice yet and the date, which many said would be Oct. 16, needs to be confirmed,” Yi said.

Many visa services will resume, including the popular “144-hour” visa for groups of no less than three tourists traveling to Guangdong from Hong Kong by land, which was canceled during the Olympics, as well as double and multiple-entry visas, Yi said.

The Hong Kong Inbound Travel Association also confirmed the long-awaited move. “Things will be back to normal from Oct. 16, like before the Olympics,” Paul Leung Yiu-lam, president of the association, told media yesterday in Hong Kong.

The mainland has resumed visa-free arrangements for Singaporeans visiting for business or sightseeing, or transiting within 15 days, which were suspended July 1, travel agents in Hong Kong said yesterday.

However, the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong, the authority that issue visas in Hong Kong, said it was not sure about the move. “We have not received any notice by today,” a female official surnamed Bie told the Shenzhen Daily yesterday.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs tightened visa applications months ago in an attempt to enhance national security during the Olympic Games, giving rise to a lot of controversy among foreign businessmen and tourists traveling to the mainland.

Many foreigners complained that few could get multiple-entry visas or even double-entry visas and some had to send their families back to their home countries as it was difficult for them to obtain a visa.

Foreigners were required to submit proof of hotel and return-flight bookings when applying for a visa to China. Nationals from some countries, including India, Malaysia, the Philippines and South Africa, were asked to go back to their home countries to apply for a visa as they were not Hong Kong residents.

But foreign athletes and support staff, as well as media staff were granted visa-free access one month before and after the Olympics.

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