Singaporean boss of Sino Land Robert Ng applies for a non-Chinese cross-border travel permit. Especially useful if you go to the Mainland frequently and are a citizen of a country whose citizens don’t get long-term multiple-entry visas or visa-free entry.
The new system looks like a post-Covid/NatSec attempt to help bolster Hong Kong’s attraction as an international hub for Mainland business and location for expats. For a couple of decades now, I recall people wondering why you can’t just use a permanent resident’s HKID to go up to Shenzhen, if not Shanghai or Beijing.
If you’re interested, see Tripperhead’s ‘somewhat helpful’ (certainly better than anything else) guide to applying for the new permit. It’s a surprisingly – or maybe unsurprisingly – tedious process. Presumably, Chinese officials still want to have some advance warning of who’s coming. (Maybe some applicants will be rejected. I know one non-Chinese Hong Kong permanent resident who gets turned away from Macau.)
My last multiple-entry visa expired a few years back. I haven’t checked whether my passport allows me to do a 72-hour visa-free visit or something. Frankly, not having a visa is a wonderful excuse for not going to the Mainland.
Claudia Mo gets a supporting letter from Abraham Shek to help her mitigation in the HK47 case.
Aren’t there already some pandas at Ocean Park? I have been there 5 or 6 times over the past 20 years, and it seems like there are always a pair or two of them there.
Mary – Have you noticed the barriers and signs (only in Chinese) stating that no gathering is allowed due to public safety and public order concerns at the TST Star Ferry pier, where some people used to discretely do tai chi poses and meditate? The po po are probably monitoring every park and housing estate podium where people gather to exercise in the mornings to make sure nothing subversive is going on.
I’ve been to China – all over the county – many times since the 1980s, but the last time was about a decade ago, and I don’t expect to ever go again, so I won’t be applying.
I don’t see the point of applying unless you are British, Canadian or American. Most other western countries have been granted visa-free access to the mainland.
Re: Star Ferry TST: The area, especially near the Clock Tower, has always been runner up to Vic Park when it comes to public gathering spots. In fact some of the younger groups preferred to gather there. It has its own police cabin.
No doubt a number of update eyes in the sky have been installed also.
I am beginning to get it why mainlanders wear those wierd head pieces with long visors.
Knowing you are being monitored at your local MTR exit is an uncomfortable experience.
Thought China was visa free for Singapore nationals Maybe it’s the 90 days that appeals
I was a member of Chungshan Hot Springs Golf Club in 1989, where the adjoining rice paddies were farmed with ox-drawn wooden plows commanded by black-clad Hakka women, and the Chinese National Women’s Golf Team were caddies.
I doubt the place has changed much since then.
Last time I applied (and was granted) my multiple-entry visa, they asked for the details of my parents, address, occupation etc. “We know where your mum lives.”
“Note to APEC Card holders: CTS advises that your China visa on the APEC Card will be annulled by this travel permit.”
So if you have an APEC Card and you DONT apply for this travel permit, your APEC card will remain valid for mainland travel?
Thanks.