POPULATION AND IMMIGRATION
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prevent the entry of undesirable persons and the departure of persons wanted for criminal offences.
The department has implemented a long-term information systems strategy through the application of advanced technology. Immigration officers pay regular visits overseas to maintain close liaison with their counterparts abroad.
Immigration Control
The HKSAR has a very liberal visa policy for visitors. People from about 170 countries and territories may come to the HKSAR visa-free for visits ranging from seven days to six months. Passenger traffic grew in 1999, with 129 million people moving in and out of the HKSAR, up 11.7 per cent from the 115.5 million in 1998. The growth was mainly attributable to heavy cross-boundary traffic over land after the reunification. In all, 90.3 million land passengers and 10.2 million vehicular movements were recorded for 1999, an increase of 17.3 per cent and 6.3 per cent over the 1998 figures - 77 million and 9.6 million, respectively.
The number of visitors travelling to the HKSAR also rose from 9.6 million in 1998 to 10.7 million in 1999, up 11.5 per cent. These included 3.1 million from the Mainland and two million from Taiwan.
Legal Immigration
The Mainland is the major source of the HKSAR's immigrant population. In 1999, 54 625 Mainland residents came to settle in the HKSAR under the One-way Permit Scheme with a daily quota. Most of them came to Hong Kong for family reunions.
Certificate of Entitlement Scheme
Under Article 24(2)(3) of the Basic Law, persons of Chinese nationality born outside Hong Kong of Hong Kong permanent residents shall be permanent residents of the HKSAR and enjoy right of abode (ROA). The Immigration (Amendment) (No. 3) Ordinance ("No. 3 Ordinance"), effective since July 10, 1997, provides for a Certificate of Entitlement (C of E) Scheme whereby a person's status as a permanent resident of the HKSAR under Article 24(2)(3) of the Basic Law can be established only by his holding a valid travel document with a valid C of E affixed to it. This arrangement enables systematic verification of ROA claims and ensures orderly entry. The Immigration (Amendment) (No. 2) Ordinance ("No. 2 Ordinance"), which came into effect from July 1, 1997, stipulates that in order for a person to qualify for ROA under Article 24(2)(3) of the Basic Law, at least one of his parents must be a Chinese citizen who has ROA at the time of his birth.
Two sets of court cases were instituted by ROA claimants shortly after the reunification in July 1997, challenging the legality of the No. 3 and No. 2 Ordinances on grounds of inconsistency with the Basic Law. Decisions by the lower courts were appealed against, and the cases were taken to the Court of Final Appeal (CFA) which delivered its judgment on January 29, 1999. The CFA upheld the legality of the C of E Scheme, but ruled against the HKSARG requirement that C of E holders must possess a valid travel document (One-way Permit) issued by the Mainland authorities in order to come to Hong Kong for settlement. The CFA also ruled that a person born outside Hong Kong should have ROA, provided that one of his parents had