Immigration officers get ready for holiday rush
The Immigration Department is projecting arrivals and departures during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday to hit 7.5 million. About six million are expected to be through various mainland border checkpoints. At a press conference on Thursday to sum up the department's work last year, Director of Immigration Benson Kwok said extra officers will be deployed during the festive period, adding that the busiest crossings are likely to be Lo Wu, the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line, and the bridge to Macau and Zhuhai. For the entire 2023, total arrivals and departures reached 212 million, or 70 percent of 2019 levels. On various government schemes to attract talent to Hong Kong, officials received more than 220,000 applications in 2023, with about 135,000 approved. About 90,000 people have arrived in Hong Kong. Kwok said officials are looking into ways to fast-track the approval of applications. Meanwhile, the department said it's working hard to safeguard national security by denying visas to people who are "unwelcome" and who would pose a threat to Hong Kong.  About 23,000 people were denied entry to the SAR in 2023 out of some 34 million arrivals. That's a rejection rate of less than 0.07 percent, compared with 0.1 percent in 2019.