50 applications for China visa permits processed on first day

The China Travel Service (CTS) has processed approximately 50 applications for the new visa cards that will allow non-Chinese nationals who are permanent residents of Macau to travel to the mainland for an extended period of up to 90 days.

Applications started on Wednesday (July 10), and CTS claimed to have processed around 50 of those requests on the first day.

According to the same source, 55% of the applications referred to residents who are Portuguese passport holders, while 40% are from people holding Canadian passports.

The remaining 5% were from people holding different Asian passports including Malaysia, the Philippines, and other countries.

The same entity is said to have received over 500 bookings for application procedures on the first day that will be distributed over different timeslots over the next month.

The new travel permit is estimated to be applicable to approximately 19,500 individuals, which accounts for 2.7% of the total population, government data shows, as cited in multiple reports.

In Sheung Wan, Hong Kong, the CTS office has established two specialized counters for handling applications, and the processing time for applications is anticipated to be 20 working days. According to Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, the initiative has garnered positive feedback, as online reservations are almost fully booked.