Hong Kong made a major breakthrough in its immigration policy. Starting today, Friday (21/7/2023), Indonesian migrant workers (PMI) in the Land of Concrete no longer need to show their passports to officers at the Immigration counter when leaving and entering Hong Kong. Like Hong Kong citizens and citizens with Permanent resident status, PMI can simply pass through the e-Channel machine using the HKID or QR code from the application on the cell phone.
"The Immigration Department today announced that e-Channel services will be extended to foreign domestic helpers, non-local students and imported workers with effect from tomorrow," the Hhong Kong Government's official website published, Thursday (20/7/2023).
That means, as reported by RTHK, starting Friday around 420.000 foreign domestic workers and other imported workers, including PMI, as well as non-local students who have Hong Kong identity cards or HKID will be able to use the self-service immigration clearance system known as e-Channel at Negeri Beton border control points, including at airports.
To use the system, Hong Kong Immigration Department officials explained, PMI and non-permanent HKID holders aged 11 years and over must register for contactless e-Channel services via a smartphone with biometric authentication technology. They can then choose to show the QR code from their mobile app or HKID card before undergoing facial recognition checks at e-Channel outlets.
"For these three types of Hong Kong residents, it takes about 15 seconds for immigration clearance at the traditional service counter, the time will be greatly reduced to seven seconds using e-Channels," said Or Chung-yuk, Assistant Director of the Immigration Department for Information Systems.
That way, writes RTHK, after the implementation of this policy all Hong Kong residents will go through immigration more quickly and more comfortably this summer, which is usually the peak season for moving in and out of Hong Kong.
