Indian citizens will no longer be able to enter Hong Kong visa-free from today – the 23rd of January 2017.
In a major setback to Indian travelers, Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, has withdrawn the visa-free facility for Indians. From now on, Indians will have to complete a pre-arrival registration form before traveling to Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong Immigration Department announced it via a statement on their official website late last year. The statement read,
“The Pre-arrival Registration for Indian Nationals will be implemented on January 23, 2017. The online service for ‘Pre-arrival Registration for Indian Nationals’ is now opened.”
Travelers in direct transit by air who don’t intend to leave the airport won’t need the pre-arrival registration, the notification clarified. Moreover, those who’ve a Hong Kong Travel Pass or are enrolled in the e-Channel service for frequent visitors will also be exempted from the new pre-registration requirement.
“Indian nationals must apply for and successfully complete pre-arrival registration online before they can visit or transit the HKSAR visa-free (if seeking to enter the HKSAR during transit). Pre-arrival registration is not required for Indian nationals in direct transit by air and not leaving the airport transit area,” it said.
A pre-arrival registration is said to be valid for a six month period or until the expiry of the Indian Passport linked to it, whichever comes earlier.
It is expected that more than half a million Indians will be affected by this change as many visit the former British colony for business, trade and holidays.
Before this change, Indians were allowed to enter Hong Kong with a valid passport for up to 14 days without a visa.
Hong Kong has said that the reason for such a step is to curb the number of asylum seekers from India. Indian officials say that Hong Kong is using the asylum seekers as pretext to deny the visa free entry to Indians who are one of the largest spenders contributing the local economy.
Hong Kong’s immigration department assistant director Ma Chi-ming is in-charge of visas and policies. He said that these measures will be reviewed after their launch and this will be considered a pilot scheme.