ENG-1986 — Page 271

224

IMMIGRATION AND TOURISM

Planning and preparation for the computerisation of immigration control work con- tinued during 1986. The system will be introduced in stages, starting in May 1987 at the Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Terminal.

Personal Documentation

During the year, 0.9 million travel documents were issued to Hong Kong residents. Re-entry permits for travel to China and Macau accounted for some 72 per cent of all issues.

The four-year programme to introduce a new and more secure identity card has now been completed and the whole record system has been computerised. This has proved to be very effective in countering illegal immigration.

Planning and preparation work is now in hand for the issue of new types of identity cards to Hong Kong residents from July 1, 1987. Under this scheme, a Hong Kong permanent identity card which states that its holder has the right of abode in Hong Kong will be issued to persons who have that right. A different form of identity card, which does not state that its holder has the right of abode in Hong Kong, will be issued to Hong Kong residents who do not have that right. The introduction of permanent identity cards stating the holders' right of abode in Hong Kong is necessary for the purpose of issuing new British National (Overseas) passports and Hong Kong Certificates of Identity from July 1, 1987, both of which will contain an endorsement referring to the holders' permanent identity cards and right of abode.

Vietnamese Refugees

Vietnamese refugees continued to arrive in Hong Kong during 1986. As in the previous year, there was some improvement in the situation in that further reduction in the refugee population had been achieved. At the beginning of the year, there were 9 443 refugees in Hong Kong whereas by the end of the year, the refugee population had gone down to 8 039. Of this number, 4 527 were in the closed centres and 3 512 in the open centres. During the year, 2 087 refugees arrived, compared with 1 112 in 1985, while 327 babies were born. It is the first time since the introduction of the closed centre policy in July 1982 that the number of arrivals in a year has increased over the preceding year. Separately, there were 228 refugees who chose to leave Hong Kong voluntarily after arrival. On the resettlement side, 3 816 refugees were resettled from Hong Kong's camps, including 60 local settlement cases. Compared with the resettlement of 3 953 refugees in 1985, the 1986 figure represents an increase of three per cent over the previous year's.

Newly arrived refugees continue to be detained in closed centres in accordance with the closed centre policy which was introduced in July 1982. In the closed centres the refugees are not allowed to seek outside employment. However, a full range of social, educational and recreational services and skills and adult language training programmes is provided in the centres by the voluntary agencies subvented by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Hong Kong Government. Families split between open and closed centres are allowed to be reunited in closed centres.

During the year, the United States, Canada and Australia continued to provide an ongoing resettlement programme for Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong. In a special effort to help reduce the refugee population, the United Kingdom accepted 425 refugees from Hong Kong for resettlement under relaxed family reunion criteria during the year. Responding to the British initiative, other countries such as Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and New Zealand also resettled 369 refugees from Hong Kong, whereas