How travel permit for non-Chinese in Hong Kong has redefined weekends over border

Visiting indoor ski resorts, enjoying water parks and eating at dim sum restaurants in Shenzhen and other nearby cities have become weekend draws for Hong Kong residents holding foreign passports, who praise a travel permit that has made crossing the border easier and faster.But even two years after the launch of the scheme, some hiccups remain, such as the lack of recognition of the permit by some mainland Chinese immigration staff, representatives of non-Chinese residents and foreign business chambers said.“I think people on long weekends would quite frequently think about going to the mainland for a short trip, whereas maybe a decade ago people would only be thinking about Macau,” Vishal Melwani, president of the India Association, said.The multi-entry permit, launched in 2024, allows non-Chinese nationals with permanent residency in Hong Kong or Macau to enter the mainland for purposes such as short-term investment, visiting relatives, tourism, business, seminars and exchanges multiple times for a period of up to five years.Permit holders can spend up to 90 days on each stay and enjoy self-service clearance at control checkpoints once they have their fingerprints registered at ports of entry upon first use.Data from the Immigration Department shows that applications for a notice stating their Hong Kong permanent resident status and nationality information, which is one of the supporting documents for the multi-entry permit application, had reached 167,000 as of April.