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Population and Immigration

handling nationality and residency matters; and registering births, deaths and marriages. The department enhances these services using advanced information technology.

The department has 5,819 disciplined staff members and 1,564 civilian staff members as at 31 December 2016.

Immigration Control

Hong Kong welcomes visitors and adopts an open visa policy. People from about 170 countries and territories may visit Hong Kong visa-free for between seven and 180 days. More than 290 million people entered and left the city in 2016, comparable to 2015. Over 110 million people arrived by land, including more than 38 million visitors, most of whom were Mainland residents. The e-Channel, an electronic system installed at boundary crossings including vehicular control points, provides automated immigration clearance for Hong Kong residents, enrolled Consular Corps Identity Card holders, visitors and eligible Mainland visitors.

Reciprocal use of automated immigration clearance services has been introduced with South Korea, Germany, Singapore and Australia. These arrangements allow greater travel convenience for passport holders of the HKSAR and of the participating countries.

Legal Immigration

The Mainland is the major contributor to Hong Kong's immigrant population. In 2016, about 57,400 Mainlanders joined their families in Hong Kong under the One-way Permit Scheme, which imposes a daily quota of 150.

Right of Abode

Article 24 of the Basic Law states that Hong Kong permanent residents, regardless of their nationalities, have the right of abode in the HKSAR and may obtain permanent identity cards.

Certificate of Entitlement Scheme

Under Article 24(2)(3) of the Basic Law, Chinese nationals born outside Hong Kong of Hong Kong permanent residents are entitled to be HKSAR permanent residents with the right of abode. The Immigration Ordinance stipulates that for a person to qualify for the right of abode under Article 24(2)(3), one of the natural parents must be a Chinese citizen who has the right of abode at the time of that person's birth.

The Certificate of Entitlement Scheme, introduced on 10 July 1997, requires that a person's status as an HKSAR permanent resident under Article 24(2)(3) can be established only by holding a valid travel document such as a One-way Permit with a valid certificate of entitlement affixed to it. This enables systematic verification of right-of-abode claims and ensures orderly entry. Between 1 July 1997 and end-2016, some 211,600 certificate of entitlement holders entered Hong Kong from the Mainland.

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