TNAG-2658-FCO40-3854-Future-of-Hong-Kong-British-Consulate-General-1992 — Page 103

1

CODE 18-77|

CONFIDENTIAL

Reference

Since

Section (Please see Section K of the SOR). my return I have confirmed with HK Department and Joint Directorate that they agree with the inclusion of the BCC in the SOR for the time- being. If we are unable to overcome the other difficulties (including the PTG) the space now allocated could come in useful for future flexibility.

Consular, Passports and Immigration/Visa Sections

(a)

Agreement was reached with the appropriate Departments, before my visit, over staffing levels which have been considerably reduced from previous schedules. These are now:

Permanent

Consular

2 UK

+

3 LE

+ Space for future

Flexibility

4 additional staff

(e)

pcas2.446

Passports

3 UK +

69LE

45

Immigration/

Visa

11 UK + 20LE

9 11

11

The main outstanding issues before my visit was the size of the waiting area for Passport Section. The existing waiting areas of the Passport Section of the Immigration Department Hong Kong total 330m2. This is more than adequate to cater for the daily 300 to 400 personal callers which is 40% approximately of the daily applications: the other 60% are received via 13 branch offices in Hong Kong and the New Territories. Mr Chui considered that the citizens of Hong Kong would readily accept a postal application scenario: he, in fact, is likely to introduce it if and when applications increase. He certainly saw no reason to create extra large waiting areas just to cater for the occasional peaks.

CONFIDENTIAL