Appointments underway for new mainland travel permit
In-person appointments began on Wednesday at China Travel Service centres across Hong Kong for people applying for new mainland travel permits. The card allows permanent residents who are not Chinese citizens to travel to the mainland for up to 90 days at a time. A man named Johan arrived early at one travel centre on Hong Kong Island. "Just to make it easier to go to China because so far, I've had to apply for a visa, and the visa process is quite time-consuming, so this just makes things a lot easier," he said. A man surnamed Ambos said he travels to the mainland for work several times a week and the new permit will make his trips easier. "I work with factories in China so every week I'm in [mainland] China two or three or four days. It's a great place to go buy products for different markets of the world. It's got good pricing and good-quality products," he said. "Now the rest of my company are all locals...and this card just makes it easier to go in and out." Meanwhile, a woman surnamed Manna told RTHK she needed to make another appointment as she was missing a document from the Immigration Department. "The applying process is really easy actually, it's just an online submission. But I didn't know that I needed to get something from Tseung Kwan O [immigration office], that approval letter. So I have to go back and get it, and then actually I have to make another appointment," she said.  "I think that was not clear for me, because they said to get the documents, but I didn't get what the document was... But it's okay, three of my family members will be applying, so I can give the message to them." A man surnamed Hart said he found the centre to be busy, but said that was understandable given it was the first day of appointments.