Two checkpoints on Hong Kong’s border with Shenzhen will adopt a new immigration clearance mode after their redevelopment is completed, Hong Kong’s security chief Chris Tang has said.
Speaking on Metro Broadcast on Sunday, Tang said that the boundary control points at Huanggang and Sha Tau Kok, which are currently under redevelopment, will implement “joint clearance.”
Most checkpoints on the land border have separate border controls, with travellers going through two clearances handled separately by Hong Kong and mainland Chinese immigration and customs.
Tang said that the government would review other existing border checkpoints to see if they could implement joint clearance, adding that the new “collaborative inspection and joint clearance” at Huanggang and Sha Tau Kok would better facilitate border crossings.
Tang said in January that joint clearance meant that outbound and inbound visitors would only have to queue once to have their documents inspected and their identities verified, with automatic counters of both sides “set up side by side within their respective jurisdiction at the boundary.”
Travellers who wish to use the automatic counters for clearance should register their information in advance, the official said.
“During the clearance process for pre-registered Hong Kong residents, the immigration departments of Hong Kong and Shenzhen will only compare the read document data with their respective databases and there is no data sharing involved,” Tang said in a written response to a question from a lawmaker.
“For those who do not wish to use the collaborative inspection service, they can still choose other clearance channels such as traditional manual inspection channels.”
Joint clearance controversies
The Huanggang Port, a checkpoint in the western side of the Shenzhen-Hongkong border, started redevelopment in 2019. Construction of the new port is expected to be completed in 2025.
Beijing approved the redevelopment of the Sha Tau Kok Control Point on Friday, local media reported.
In 2007, the Shenzhen Bay Port became the first checkpoint to turn to joint clearance.
In 2018, the Legislative Council passed the joint clearance plan for the HK$84.4 billion Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link. The plan was controversial with the pro-democracy camp and the Hong Kong Bar Association, which said Hong Kong was effectively giving up its jurisdiction across a quarter of the West Kowloon terminus, where immigration and customs procedures would be performed by mainland Chinese law enforcement agents.
