16 January 2019
A government spokesman today (January 16) announced that from March 25 this year, the Immigration Department will revise fees for some services, including the issuing of visas/entry permits and travel documents, genetic tests and despatch service for delivering travel documents to places outside Hong Kong.
"It is the Government's established policy that fees charged by the Government should in general be set at levels sufficient to recover the full cost of providing the service," the spokesman said.
A recent costing review showed that the fees payable for services including the issuing of visas/entry permits and travel documents, genetic tests and despatch service for delivering travel documents to places outside Hong Kong are not adequate to recover the full cost of providing those services.
"Based on the government-wide general guidelines for fee increases, the fees of the services concerned will be increased by 9 per cent to 21 per cent. The proposals will have little impact on the daily life of most people and very limited impact on general business activities," the spokesman added.
The Immigration Department regularly reviews the arrangements for handling various types of applications and services with a view to improving the cost-effectiveness as well as the quality of services. Measures are in place to control the cost of providing the services.
The relevant amendment regulation will be tabled at the Legislative Council on January 23. The fee revision will take effect after completion of the necessary legislative procedures. A table setting out the existing and revised fees is in the Annex.
