Passport renewals to surge after Covid travel lull

Some 750,000 people have not renewed passports that had expired during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Immigration Department said as it braced for a surge in renewals by deploying 30 percent more manpower.

In a written reply to questions raised by Legislative Council member Yang Wing-kit yesterday over a considerable number of people being unable to make appointments to renew their passports, the department outlined measures recently put in place and described its plans moving forward.

It said the 750,000 figure represented the number of people who had allowed their passports to expire or become invalid from 2020 and the end of last month. About 260,000 more passports will expire and become invalid between this month and the end of this year.

The department said it has "flexibly deployed" resources to handle documentation-related work to cope with a surge in applications in recent months, allocating additional resources and increasing its manpower by about 30 percent, including using overtime, engaging retired civil servants and contract staff.

It will "continue to review its manpower arrangements based on service demand."

It also called for people to apply via the internet or its mobile application, describing both as "efficient and convenient."

People were also urged to check the validity of their passports early and to replace them as soon as possible, since more than 700,000 residents had not replaced their expired passports between 2020 and the end of 2021, and almost one million expired passports had yet to be replaced by mid-2022.

In regards to suggestions that additional travel document submission kiosks and passport collection kiosks be set up at MTR stations and government premises such as district offices or government offices in various districts, the department said it considered it more "secure and proper" to install kiosks at its own offices, but "actively adopts technology and plans to substantially increase the number of self-service kiosks in the new headquarters to be commissioned next year."

It also plans to "review and explore facilitation measures on the application for and collection of travel documents."