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Home > About Us > Performance Pledge > 5. Service Improvements About Us 5. Service Improvements 
In view of the ever-increasing passenger and vehicular traffic, the Automated Passenger Clearance (APC) and Automated Vehicle Clearance (AVC) systems have been introduced by phases at control points. Both systems provide an advanced information technology solution to the mounting traffic needs at control points by leveraging the smart identity card and the fingerprint recognition technology. As at December 31, 2007, a total of 350 passenger e-Channels are in operation at all control points, including 31 at the Airport, 109 at Lo Wu, 10 at Hung Hom, 70 at Lok Ma Chau Spur Line, 20 at Lok Ma Chau, 9 at Man Kam To, 6 at Sha Tau Kok, 29 at Shenzhen Bay, 42 at Macau Ferry Terminal, 18 at China Ferry Terminal and 6 at Tuen Mun Ferry Terminal. As regards the AVC e-Channel, it has been introduced at Lok Ma Chau boundary-crossing point since April 21, 2005. More AVC e-Channels were rolled out by phases in 2006 at the vehicular control points. By the end of 2007, Lok Ma Chau has 22 AVC e-Channels, Man Kam To has 12, Sha Tau Kok has 6 and Shenzhen Bay has 40. 
With effect from September 12, 2006, the e-Channel service has been extended further from permanent Hong Kong residents to certain categories of non-permanent residents holding smart identity cards. To cater for the persistent growth in the number of cross-boundary students, 5 designated e-Channels were on trial at Lo Wu control point at the end of 2007 to facilitate this group of users. With the successful rollout of e-Channels at all control points and our achievement in clearing most Hong Kong residents within 15-minute waiting time normally, the Department has upgraded the performance pledge in 2007 by clearing 95% residents within 15 minutes at all control points. 
To improve our service at sea, the Department has introduced the Pre-arrival Clearance (PAC) Scheme since 1970s. Under the scheme, ocean-going vessels may apply for advanced clearance 24 hours before the ship's arrival in Hong Kong. When the application is approved, the vessel may proceed to its berth directly for business activities without having to wait for immigration clearance at the anchorage. In 2002, the scheme was further extended to Mainland river/coastal trade vessels (MRCTVs). The PAC arrangements have saved much of vessels' operational costs and time in waiting for immigration clearance. The facilitation provided to the MRCTVs also helps enhance the river trade transportation business and promote the economic co-operation between Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta. The PAC scheme is well received by the vessel operators. In January to November 2007, 96% of the arriving ocean-going vessels and 40% MRCTVs benefited under this scheme. To enhance immigration control service and curb illicit activities at sea, two new immigration launches to replace the old ones were put into service in 2007. Regarding improvement works, replacement of the air-conditioning system at Lo Wu immigration clearance halls was completed in 2007. As regards Lok Ma Chau boundary-crossing point, to preserve sufficient traditional counters for visitors on one hand whilst coping with the fast growing demand of Hong Kong resident traffic on the other hand, four annexures were built in the first half of 2006. A total of 20 e-channels are made available therein to facilitate residents' travel.
To facilitate coach passengers carrying heavy baggage at the Sha Tau Kok boundary-crossing point, construction of three additional ramps for coach passengers were completed in June 2007, with two at the arrival coach parking area and one at the departure coach parking area. To cater for the rising passenger traffic, new control points were commissioned. The new ferry control point at Tuen Mun Ferry Terminal has commenced operation on November 3, 2006, providing daily ferry services between Tuen Mun and Mainland China initially with a view to expanding further to Macau in future. Terminal 2 at the new 'SkyPlaza' at Chek Lap Kok Airport was commissioned on February 28, 2007 to provide clearance service to departing air passengers. Shenzhen Bay and Lok Ma Chau Spur Line boundary-crossing points were commissioned on July 1, 2007 and August 15, 2007 respectively. Both control points help alleviate congestion at existing boundary-crossing points.  
The Shenzhen Bay Control Point is the first boundary-crossing point adopting the 'co-location' arrangement. Coach passengers may go through departure and arrival clearance of both the Hong Kong and Shenzhen side within the same Passenger Terminal Building which is located entirely on Shenzhen side. At Shenzhen Bay control point, there are 100 kiosks for vehicle clearance. These include 4 kiosks for coaches, 64 kiosks for goods vehicles and 32 kiosks for private cars. Amongst the 64 kiosks for goods vechicles, 40 of them are installed with Automated Vehicle Clearance system. Besides, a total of 38 immigration clearance counters and 29 e-Channels are available for passenger clearance in the two levels of the Passenger Terminal Building. For Lok Ma Chau Spur Line control point, there are 66 immigration clearance counters and 70 e-Channels for cross boundary passengers. 
The 24-hour appointment booking system for giving of marriage notices has been widely accepted by members of the public since its implementation on December 20, 2001. Persons intending to marry may book appointments for marriage ceremonies through the internet or the Interactive Voice Response System. The Civil Celebrants of Marriages Scheme has come into operation on March 13, 2006. Parties to an intended marriage may engage a civil celebrant to celebrate their marriages at any time and any place in Hong Kong other than the office of the Registrar or a licensed place of worship.
The Department has started to issue smart identity cards since June 23, 2003. The processing time for issuing an identity card has also been reduced from 15 to 10 working days. Effective from April 24, 2006, Registration of Persons - Kowloon Office also accepts HKSAR Document of Identity for Visa Purposes applications which are submitted by One-way Permit entrants together with the application for first registration of a Hong Kong identity card. The applicant will collect the identity card and the Document of Identity for Visa Purposes at the same time. The processing time for the issue of a Document of Identity for Visa Purposes has been shortened from 15 to 10 working days. Since February 5, 2007, the Department has started to issue HKSAR electronic passport and electronic Document of Identity for Visa Purposes which are embedded with a contactless chip that stores the holder's personal data and facial image. The processing time for the issue of a passport has been shortened from 15 to 10 working days. A tag information system has been introduced at major offices of the Headquarters and Registration of Persons Offices. In these offices, tags are issued to customers from a computer. Information on the queuing situation is shown on the display boards installed at the public waiting halls. 
With a view to delivering its services at a lower cost and in a responsive manner, the Department formulated an updated information system strategy (ISS) in 2000. The ISS projects are being implemented by phases. Since the rollout of the e-Channels in December 2004 to enable self-service passenger clearance by Hong Kong permanent residents, a total of 350 e-Channels for passengers and 80 vehicular e-Channels (as at December 31, 2007) have been installed at various control points to improve our service level. After the enactment of the Immigration (Amendment) Ordinance 2005, e-Channel service has been extended to non-permanent Hong Kong residents by phases. It was first extended to non-permanent Hong Kong residents holding Document of Identity for Visa Purposes and smart identity cards, and then to non-permanent Hong Kong residents holding smart identity cards with valid limit of stay and who have been issued with a notification label. The e-Channel service was extended to cross boundary primary students under the age of 11 on December 18, 2007. The Department has a plan to extending the service to frequent travellers in early 2008. 
The first phase of the Application and Investigation Easy System (APPLIES) and Electronic Records Programme was implemented in early 2007. The remaining phases are tentatively scheduled to roll out starting from early 2008. Related services including registration of births, deaths and marriages; applications relating to visas, permits, travel passes; and nationality matters will be improved significantly. With the digitisation of records, manual efforts on maintenance and distribution of files and records will be saved. The turnaround time of application processing will be shortened. The parallel running of the new Electronic Services System will enable the public to enjoy the e-services, including booking of appointments, submission of applications, enquiry of application status and payment of application fees through the Internet and self-service kiosk. 'One-stop' service will be possible for most types of applications upon full implementation of APPLIES. A pilot Electronic Check Point System (previously known as Advance Passenger Processing) has been implemented since November 21, 2005. It is an electronic movement records system that enables pre-checking of arrival passengers by air. It enhances border security while ensuring movement of legitimate travellers is not disrupted. Two locally based airlines have participated in the pilot run and the Department is extending the invitation to other airlines. Following the introduction of a pilot Face Recognition System (FACES) in December 2004, the FACES has been fully implemented in December 2005 to facilitate the verification of identity of suspect travellers through the application of face recognition technology. By applying wireless communication technology, mobile functionality of FACES will be available in 2008 to provide flexibility to frontline officers for verification of identities. 
Leveraging information and communications technologies, the Department introduced an iPermit Scheme for Taiwan visitors on March 18, 2002. With an automatic information system developed to support the scheme, the visitors may submit applications for visit permits by electronic means and the turnaround time of applications has been reduced to within a few minutes. The Department launched the English Homepage on the Internet on May 31, 1996 and the Chinese Homepage on July 21, 1998. A revamped Homepage with Simplified Chinese version was introduced on April 24, 2003. Through this channel, information on immigration services, statistics, organisation structure, etc. is provided. So far 179 forms have been uploaded onto the Internet and more will come. Members of the public can download the forms at the website http://www.immd.gov.hk. They can also make enquiries by e-mail through the Internet. The e-mail address is enquiry@immd.gov.hk. Under the Electronic Service Delivery (ESD) Scheme, members of the public can access the following immigration services through Internet-connected personal computers :
Contract for the ESD Scheme will expire in January 2008. The above e-services will be reprovisioned to the new Government Portal, GovHK. New e-services such as online application for HKSAR electronic passport by eligible Hong Kong residents are also available via GovHK. |
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