Hong Kong handled record 335 million arrivals and departures last year

Hong Kong plans to test a new clearance channel using facial recognition at one of its checkpoints by June to cut processing time to five seconds, with immigration authorities handling a record 335 million people entering and leaving the city last year. Director of Immigration Benson Kwok Joon-fung said at an annual press conference on Friday the city handled 12 per cent more passengers overall than in 2024. “Last year’s record high immigration figures mean that our immigration clearance work in the future will be challenging. Therefore, our two key priorities will be to improve clearance efficiency and checkpoint infrastructure,” Kwok said. The total number of inbound visitors reached 49 million last year, also up by 12 per cent over the 2024 tally. Among them, mainland Chinese visitors accounted for 38 million people, 11 per cent more than in 2024. Overseas visitors recorded a 15 per cent increase to 12 million last year. Kwok said that a contactless clearance pilot scheme would be launched in the second quarter of this year to streamline immigration procedures. The new contactless e-channel – eliminating the need to stop in front of a gate within the channel to scan an ID card or a QR code – will be tested at the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge. The pilot scheme would test the new machine with regular local passengers, but the exact criteria outlining who would qualify for the scheme would be announced later, Kwok said, adding the department had no estimates on how many residents would be eligible. “After registration, the machine could use facial recognition to verify the passenger’s identity, enabling them to pass through immigration with no need for any contact or to stop,” he said. This new e-channel clearance process is expected to take five seconds, and the new machine will feature a corridor stretching 4.9 metres (16 feet), rather than the 2.7 metre one currently used. The processing time for the contactless e-channel is seven seconds and the traditional e-channel is eight seconds. Five cameras, two in front and three on the right of the channel, will perform facial recognition functions as a passenger walks through the corridor. The e-channel’s cameras will be able to detect a face two metres away from its entrance. However, the e-channel can only be used by residents who have registered their identity details with the new service. Those who have not registered will be barred from entering the channel. In addition to the new pilot scheme, Kwok also announced that the criteria for regular visitors to use the city’s e-channels would be relaxed from the end of this month. Visitors who have logged at least three visits to the city via Hong Kong International Airport over the past 24 months would be eligible to register for the e-channel. The current rule requires the traveller to have logged three visits via the airport over the past 12 months. The department will also update the 26 e-channels in use at the airport and install 26 more from the first quarter of this year, with 12 of them to be ready by the end of March. Besides handling passenger clearance, the department also ramped up efforts to crack down on illegal workers over the past year, working alongside an interdepartmental task force against illegal employment. The Immigration Department conducted 19,980 operations last year, arresting 3,708 illegal workers and 569 local employers. The number of operations increased by 12 per cent from 2024’s figure, but the number of workers arrested dipped by 11 per cent from 4,172 arrests in the year before. However, officers arrested 10 per cent more employers last year compared with 513 in 2024. Kwok attributed the drop in the number of worker arrests, which came despite more operations, to employers’ heightened awareness of the stiff penalties for hiring illegal workers. Under Hong Kong law, employers hiring workers illegally can be fined HK$500,000 (US$64,100) and imprisoned for 10 years. The immigration chief added that authorities conducted 28 sting operations concerning 33 self-employed personnel providing services illegally in Hong Kong. These included photographers, make-up artists, tour guides and personal shoppers. “We always keep an eye on social media posts. We will look into some suspicious posts that look to provide illegal workers’ services in Hong Kong,” Kwok said. The department has also approved more than 190,000 applications and visa extensions for various talent schemes in the city last year, an 11 per cent increase from 2024’s figure. Kwok said the issue of applicants using forged academic certificates had been resolved with a mid-2024 requirement for verified documents to be submitted in talent scheme applications. “We believe after that period, there should be no such cases,” Kwok said. The department dismantled a syndicate that submitted forged documents in their clients’ applications to the Top Talent Pass Scheme in July last year, arresting 18 people including 12 applicants who had used fraudulent documents. Kwok also revealed that his department had denied entry to about 32,000 visitors at border checkpoints last year, representing 0.06 per cent of all inbound passengers last year. “Among these people, we have discovered that 85 per cent of them or more harboured suspicious intentions on their visit, such as taking up illegal employment and overstaying, or they are ‘undesirables’,” the director said.

Hong Kong handled record 335 million arrivals and departures last year

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Immigration authorities also plan to test new clearance channel using facial recognition to cut processing time to five seconds

Immigration authorities also plan to test new clearance channel using facial recognition to cut processing time to five seconds