Eased exit-entry measures come into effect in Shanghai
Applicants wait at a service window at the Shanghai Exit-Entry Administration Bureau.
Starting from Monday, Shanghai fully resumed exit and entry services to Macau and Hong Kong for Chinese mainland residents following the National Immigration Administration's optimization of the country's exit-entry policies.
From today, residents from other provinces or cities can apply for documents for visiting relatives, working or studying in Hong Kong and Macau from any exit-entry service site in Shanghai without additional documents, according to the city's exit-entry administration bureau.
Those who are planning group tours to Hong Kong and Macau can also renew permits for Hong Kong and Macau in Shanghai.
After the adjustment, mainland residents are able to obtain three kinds of exit-entry documents, including passports, documents for Macau and Hong Kong, and documents for Taiwan, at any exit-entry service site across the country.
They can also apply for four kinds of Hong Kong and Macau permits, including group travel, visiting relatives, and short stays, as well as other reasons from any exit-entry service site across the country.
For mainland students studying in Macau, the validity period of the stay permit has been adjusted from a maximum of one year to get consistent with the study period specified in their offer letter issued by the Macau education authority.
A police officer of the Shanghai Exit-Entry Administration Bureau helps a resident apply for her exit-entry document.
The city has also halved the time for applications for exit-entry documents through service windows, from 20 days to 10 days, according to Hou Xiaowen, an official with Shanghai Exit-Entry Administration Bureau.
Since January 8, when China downgraded its prevention and control of COVID-19, Shanghai has dealt with over 2 million applications for exit-entry documents, an increase of 15 percent compared with 2019. Application numbers have remained high during the last couple of months.
At present, applicants can make a reservation online or go directly to the exit-entry services sites.
For those who have made reservation online, it should take about half an hour for the application procedure, and for those without reservations, it should take about an hour.
Residents from other provinces and cities who held exit-entry documents to Hong Kong and Macau could use intelligent machines at the service sites to apply for permits. If their application is approved, they could obtain the permit immediately. If not, they need to go to a service window in person for further processing.
On Monday morning, a woman surnamed Xu who was in Shanghai on business, completed her application for a group-travel permit to Macau and Hong Kong via the digital machine.
"I came here after I was notified that the application service had been optimized," she said. "It is really convenient."
Applicants use intelligent machines to apply for exit-entry documents.
