Immigration Department introduces self-service departure for visitors

9 October 2017

The Immigration Department (ImmD) announced today (October 9) that self-service departure for visitors to Hong Kong (Smart Departure) will be launched at Hong Kong International Airport tomorrow (October 10), and photos of visitors will be taken at arrival clearance counters to assist in authenticating their identities through face recognition technology. Smart Departure aims to provide greater travel convenience for visitors while enhancing the effectiveness of immigration control. The above arrangement is not applicable to Hong Kong residents.

Smart Departure employs face recognition technology for identity verification, which facilitates self-service departure for visitors. Visitors aged 11 or above who hold valid electronic travel documents compliant with the International Civil Aviation Organization's requirements, and issued by designated countries or regions as announced by the ImmD, may perform self-service departure clearance through Smart Departure e-Channels without prior enrolment.

According to the existing arrangement, all arriving visitors will be issued with landing slips. Upon completion of arrival clearance at immigration counters, the landing slips of eligible visitors will additionally bear the Smart Departure logo (a specimen is enclosed at Annex). For details, please visit the ImmD's website at www.immd.gov.hk/sd. For visitors who have enrolled for the e-Channel service, their immigration arrangements will remain unchanged.

In addition, the ImmD will also install cameras at arrival clearance counters to take real-time photos of visitors, which will be compared with the photos in their travel documents through face recognition technology for the purpose of identity verification.

The measures will be first implemented at Hong Kong International Airport and will be extended in phases to other control points.