XN000022-1996-10-09 — Page 31

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The introduction of the Immigration Control Automation System (ICAS) on 28 September 1995 has helped to absorb some of the additional workload by shortening the passenger clearance time. The time savings in immigration clearance are:

(i)

for each HK identity card holder - 4 seconds;

(ii)

for each arriving passenger holding a machine readable travel document - 20 seconds; and

(iii)

for each departing visitor - 10 seconds.

While the Immigration Department pledges to clear 92% of the travellers within 30 minutes, 100% of the departing passengers and 100% of the arriving Hong Kong residents are cleared within this target time. With the measures mentioned above and the implementation of the ICAS, 97% of the arriving visitors have been cleared within 30 minutes from March 96 onwards.

Measures under consideration

Over the longer term, we are developing two new initiatives to reduce the clearance time of travellers. For non-permanent residents, the Immigration Department is considering the possibility of doing away with the practice of stamping on their travel documents on return from a trip outside Hong Kong within their current for limit of stay. For visitors, we are exploring the feasibility of issuing a travel pass bona fide frequent travellers.

Chek Lap Kok Airport

We have plans to provide sufficient staff to handle the anticipated passenger growth after the Airport's opening. We are studying ways to maximise the capacity of New measures under immigration clearance at the Chek Lap Kok Airport. consideration include:

(a) serpentine queuing of passengers;

(b)

even distribution of passengers between the two halls at the same level;

(c)

software systems to facilitate a better match of staff deployment and the fluctuation of passenger arrivals;