Question 1

Do I need to provide completed and signed application form id 1003a, with a recent photograph?

Accepted Answer

The form is "Application for Entry for Visit/Transit in Hong Kong" (ID 1003A), with your recent photograph affixed on page 1. It is free from the Immigration Department, Chinese missions abroad and Hong Kong government offices outside Hong Kong, and can be downloaded. All forms must be duly completed and signed.

Question 2

Do I need to provide get the visa or entry permit before you travel?

Accepted Answer

A person who needs a visa or entry permit to visit or transit Hong Kong, or who wants to stay beyond the visa-free period, must obtain it before coming. You can apply online, by post to the Immigration Department (directly or through a local sponsor), or in person at the nearest Chinese diplomatic or consular mission in the place where you live. Holders of foreign passports living in Chinese Mainland can apply at the Immigration Division of the Hong Kong government's Beijing Office or its Shanghai Economic and Trade Office. Visit visa applications from Indian nationals go to the Immigration Department direct. Some Chinese missions route applications through a Chinese Visa Application Service Center.

Question 3

Do I need to provide if you live in chinese mainland: an exit-entry permit with the right endorsement?

Accepted Answer

Hong Kong says Mainland residents who want to enter for any reason must apply to the authorities where they live and hold valid documents. For a private visit you need an Exit-entry Permit for Travelling to and from Hong Kong and Macao with an exit endorsement from the Public Security Bureau that matches your purpose (visiting relatives, group tour, individual visit for residents of Guangdong and 38 listed cities, business, talent exchange, or other). The endorsement states whether it is for a single, double or multiple journey. Holders of People's Republic of China passports in transit to or from another country may be granted 7 days on each landing without an entry permit if they have valid entry facilities for the destination and a confirmed onward booking. This line is for Mainland residents only.

Question 4

Do I need to provide if you live in taiwan: pre-arrival registration or an entry permit?

Accepted Answer

Chinese residents of Taiwan who are in Taiwan should apply for an entry permit for their purpose of entry. For a visit you may instead apply online, free of charge, for pre-arrival registration if you were born in Taiwan (or born outside Taiwan but admitted to Hong Kong before as a Taiwan resident) and hold no travel document issued by other authorities outside Taiwan (apart from the Mainland Travel Permit for Taiwan Residents and a Hong Kong entry permit). Holders of a valid Mainland Travel Permit for Taiwan Residents may enter as visitors for up to 30 days, and can also apply for a single or multiple entry permit through authorised airlines, on the same conditions and with a travel document valid for at least six months for re-entry to Taiwan. Chinese residents of Taiwan living overseas apply for an entry permit. This line is for Taiwan residents only.

Question 5

Do I need to provide if you register as a taiwan resident: what the registration covers?

Accepted Answer

Pre-arrival registration for Taiwan residents is free. You enter your names, sex, date and place of birth, Taiwan identity card number and Taiwan re-entry travel document number and validity, exactly as on that document, and print the notification slip it gives you (a parent or legal guardian signs for a child under 16). A registration is valid for two months and good for two entries of up to 30 days each. You must hold a re-entry travel document valid for at least six months when you register and on arrival. If the online registration cannot be completed you can apply for an entry permit instead. This line is for Taiwan residents only.

Question 6

Do I need to provide photocopy of your travel document?

Accepted Answer

A copy of the page of your travel document that shows your personal particulars, date of issue and date of expiry, and details of any re-entry visa you hold. Hong Kong also expects a travel document with adequate returnability to your country of residence or citizenship. The page does not state a minimum passport validity.

Question 7

Do I need to provide proof you have enough money for your stay?

Accepted Answer

A photocopy of proof of your financial standing, such as bank statements, savings account passbooks or tax receipts, and proof of employment if you have a job (such as a company leave letter or salary slips). Adequate funds to cover your stay without working are one of the criteria the Immigration Department lists for a favourable decision.

Question 8

Do I need to provide visa or entry permit fee, paid after approval?

Accepted Answer

If you applied to the Immigration Department directly, the approval notice includes a payment link (credit card, Payment by Phone Service, Faster Payment System or Mainland e-wallets, or in person at an Immigration office). If you applied through a Chinese mission or the Beijing or Shanghai offices, you pay them directly. The page does not give the amount; it points to the Immigration Department's fee table, which lists $330 for an ordinary visa not issued under a specified scheme, $170 for a transit visa, and HK$330 for a single-entry entry permit (same "others" line). Check that table for the line that applies to you.

Question 9

Do I need to provide if you are visiting for business: proof of the business visit?

Accepted Answer

For a business visit only, a photocopy of proof such as a letter from your employer confirming your planned business activities in Hong Kong, an invitation letter from a local company, or a letter from a trade body confirming you will attend a trade fair or exhibition.

Question 10

Do I need to provide proof of your leisure visit?

Accepted Answer

For a leisure visit, a photocopy of proof of the trip, such as a receipt for joining a package tour to Hong Kong or your itinerary.

Question 11

Do I need to provide visitor conditions: no work, business or study?

Accepted Answer

As a visitor you may not take any employment (paid or unpaid), establish or join any business, or become a student at a school, university or other educational institution. Except in the most unusual circumstances you cannot change your immigration status after arrival.

Question 12

Do I need to provide an onward or return ticket?

Accepted Answer

Visitors must hold an onward or return ticket, unless they are in transit to Chinese Mainland or Macao. A transit visa or entry permit is considered favourably only with an onward ticket to your destination (again with that exception).

Question 13

Do I need to provide proof of your travel arrangements?

Accepted Answer

A photocopy of proof of your transportation arrangement, such as a flight itinerary.

Question 14

Do I need to provide show your e-visa (or visa label) and travel document on arrival?

Accepted Answer

An approved application is issued as an e-Visa. At arrival immigration clearance, present your valid travel document and the e-Visa saved on a mobile device or printed on a sheet of A4 white paper, and scan its QR code at the immigration counter. If you applied through a Chinese mission or the Beijing or Shanghai offices, the visa or entry permit is a label stuck onto a blank visa page of your travel document.

Question 15

Do I need to provide a local sponsor (optional) and, for a family visit, proof of your relationship?

Accepted Answer

Naming a sponsor in Hong Kong helps the Immigration Department process your application. A sponsor can be a company or an individual aged 18 or over who is a bona fide Hong Kong resident and knows you. The sponsor completes form ID 1003B and sends a copy of the company's Business Registration Certificate, or of their Hong Kong identity card (plus, for a non-permanent resident, their travel document and latest arrival stamp or extension label). For a family visit you also send proof of your relationship with the sponsor.

Question 16

Do I need to provide allow about four weeks?

Accepted Answer

Processing normally takes four weeks once all the required documents have arrived, and the Immigration Department cannot start until it has them. Approval is entirely discretionary, and the Director of Immigration can refuse an application even if you meet the criteria.

Question 17

Do I need to provide certified translations of documents not in chinese or english?

Accepted Answer

Any document that is not in Chinese or English must come with a Chinese or English translation certified as a true translation by a sworn, court, authorised public, certified, expert or official translator. The Immigration Department may also ask for further documents after you apply.

Question 18

Do I need to provide check which entry route applies to you?

Accepted Answer

Hong Kong's Immigration Department publishes one table of visa-free periods and visa-required nationalities. This checklist is for people the table does not let in visa-free, and it is built for an ordinary foreign passport on the "visa required" side of that table. Albanian and Serbian passports that are not biometric (and Serbian passports from the Coordination Directorate in Belgrade) also need a visa. Tonga and Tuvalu are here because the table gives 90 days on one row but says some Tongan and I-Tuvalu passports need a visa on others, without saying which applies to yours: ask the Immigration Department. If you live in Chinese Mainland or Taiwan, see the next two lines. If you travel on a passport from another country (for example a US or French passport held in an overseas territory), choose that passport's country instead: the table is organised by the country or territory that issued the travel document.

Question 19

Do I need to provide if you are under 16: a parent or legal guardian signs the application?

Accepted Answer

The Immigration Department says the application forms must be signed, and for an applicant under the age of 16 they must be signed by the child's parent or legal guardian. The page does not list any other document specific to children.

Senegal → Hong Kong: Short-stay tourist

Required documents

Identity

Financial

Purpose of travel

Travel

Other

Why applications on this route get refused

Sources