POPULATION AND IMMIGRATION
(Overseas). Demand for Certificates of Identity dropped by 19 per cent to 133 500. There was also a slight decrease in the demand for re-entry permits which accounted for 48 per cent of the 719 300 travel documents issued.
The renewal exercise to replace identity cards issued before July 1, 1987, with permanent and ordinary identity cards was completed in December 1991. During this 41-year period, over four million cards were replaced. The eight New Identity Card Issue Offices were subsequently closed and applications for the new-type identity cards will continue to be processed at regular Registration of Persons offices. These identity cards will remain valid beyond July 1, 1997, until they are replaced by the future Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government. In 1991, 566 300 new identity cards were issued under the renewal exercise, 263 866 to new arrivals and persons having reached the age of 11 or 18 and 221 700 to persons who had lost or damaged their identity cards or whose identity cards required amendments.
Naturalisation
After the phenomenal increase in 1990, the number of applications for naturalisation levelled off in 1991. During the year, a total of 4 499 applications for naturalisation were received, a decrease of 87 per cent as compared with 35 011 applications received in 1990.
Marriages
The registration of marriages, births and deaths is the responsibility of the Im- migration Department.
All marriages in Hong Kong are governed by the Marriage Ordinance and the Marriage Reform Ordinance. Under the Marriage Ordinance, at least 15 days' notice of an intended marriage must be given to the Registrar of Marriages. The registrar has discretionary powers to reduce the period of notice if there are special circum- stances or to grant a special licence dispensing with notice altogether, but this is done only in exceptional circumstances.
Marriages may take place at any of the 214 places of public worship licensed for the celebration of marriages, or at any of the 13 full-time marriage registries and three part-time sub-registries located in the main urban districts and rural centres. Of the 13 full-time marriage registries, four are also open for marriage ceremonies on Sundays. They are the City Hall Marriage Registry, Cotton Tree Drive Marriage Registry, Sha Tin Marriage Registry and Tsim Sha Tsui Marriage Registry. During the year 40 452 marriages were performed in the registries and 2 116 at licensed places of worship. All records are maintained permanently in the General Register Office.
The Marriage Reform Ordinance provides that all marriages entered into in Hong Kong on or after October 7, 1971, shall imply the voluntary union, for life, of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others, and may be contracted only in accordance with the Marriage Ordinance. It declares valid certain customary marriages and others known as modern marriages provided, in each case, they were entered into before October 7, 1971. The ordinance makes provision for the post-registration of these marriages, and for their dissolution. During the year, 49 customary and 113 modern marriages were post- registered.
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