Approximately 16,000 Hong Kong permanent residents with foreign passports have already obtained new five-year multiple-entry permits to travel to mainland China, with a total of three It accounts for 1/2 of the total.
Finance Secretary Paul Chan Mopo shared the figures on Sunday, pointing to the benefits of the recently expanded free trade agreement with the mainland, which provides further preferential treatment to Hong Kong businesses and talent.
Last week, ministers and mainland authorities signed amendments to the Closer Economic Agreement (CEPA) that ease qualification requirements for Hong Kong professionals working across the border and lift restrictions on shareholding and business activity in the north. did.
Mr Chan said the China Travel Services (Hong Kong) agency had received about 48,000 applications as of early October for the five-year multiple entry permit scheme.
Over the same period, one-third, or 16,000 applicants, were issued travel permits by mainland China’s immigration authorities, he noted.
The Hong Kong Immigration Department announced last Sunday that more than 61,000 people had applied for the necessary documents to obtain travel permits.
