1.
HKK 349/1
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY
24 FEB 1984
DESK OFFICER
INDEX
RESTY
PA
A
Taken
SPL SING-NOTE
TİK 1)
(14)
dove. Am. Lego Pl Copy TO FED дезорі
сари пород
(Mr Cont Cpa
pa 349/1.
As Mr ZHAO will know, negotiations have been going on for some time in Peking about the question of privileges and immunities for the Visa Office and about the proposal that the Visa Office should be allowed to issue replacement passports to travellers whose passports are lost, stolen, full or have expired. Agreement is very
close, and as soon as it is reached the legislation necessary to confer on the Visa Office the privileges and immunities under discussion will be drawn up and
introduced.
2.
av
There remains some small practical question on which it would be helpful to have an agreement between this department and the Visa Office. As Mr ZHAO will know, any traveller visiting Hong Kong who is given a replacement passport must obtain from Immigration Department a renewal of the immigration stamp which was endorsed in
his previous passport on arrival in Hong Kong. Without this, the traveller would be unable to leave Hong Kong.
3.
When arrangements are introduced for the issue of replacement passports by the Visa Office, the volume of replacement passports issued is likely to be
quite large. This is a reflection of the large number of People's Republic of China passport holders passing
through Hong Kong each year. It would be most unfortunate if any of these visitors got into difficulties when leaving Hong Kong because they had failed to apply to Immigration Department for renewal of endorsement. In order to eliminate the risk of such unfortunate
incidents and in order to make life generally easier
for the travellers, I should like to propose an arrangement whereby the Visa Office itself would arrange for all replacement passports to be submitted direct to Immigration Department for renewal of endorsement before the passports are issued to the travellers.
23/2
Immigration Department
100 L