Lawmakers urge installing fast Macau-style immigration clearance system

Border control points between Hong Kong and the mainland should set up an immigration clearance system like the one in Macau, which only took 15 seconds to process travelers, six lawmakers of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong said after visiting a border control point between the casino city and Hengqin yesterday.

With the new "collaborative inspection and joint clearance" system, cross-boundary travelers only need to insert their travel documents once and undergo fingerprint and face verification in one queue, with the whole process taking between 15 to 24 seconds.

DAB lawmaker Edward Lau Kwok-fan said that the new system is time-saving and convenient and Hong Kong should have a system like Macau to facilitate travelers.

He also said that new system could promote the development of the Northern Metropolis. "As the Northern Metropolis will become the focus of Hong Kong's future development - and where a number of border control points will lie - the adoption of the new system would help speed up the movement of people and goods, as well as promote the development of the area."

He added that DAB representatives would meet the Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung today to discuss the implementation of the new system.

Another DAB lawmaker Frankie Ngan Man-yu said the new system could also alleviate the pressure on staff at the checkpoints when the first batch of imported labor arrives in Hong Kong in October - some of whom need to travel between Hong Kong and the mainland daily.

DAB vice-chairman Gary Chan Hak-kan believed adopting the new system could shorten the waiting time of travelers and save manpower of the Immigration Department, as the city currently handles hundreds of thousands of cross-boundary travelers daily.

And DAB vice-chairman Brave Chan Yung said he was not concerned about privacy issues, as private information would not be involved in the clearance process.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong's sole delegate to the National People's Congress Standing Committee and also DAB chairwoman Starry Lee Wai-king said she would meet with Macau authorities and strive for the early implementation of the new system.

She also said they may receive a reply within three months as 36 Hong Kong delegates of the NPC submitted a co-signed letter to the NPCSC on Monday, calling on mainland authorities to abolish an online health declaration - also known as the "black code" - for entering and leaving the mainland.

The letter states that the declaration is not convenient for travelers due to most Hong Kong elders being unfamiliar with using smartphones, alongside the unstable network at the border.