China removes more Covid travel restrictions with new passports, permits

CHINA will start issuing new passports and Hong Kong travel permits to mainland residents as it removes some of the tourism barriers from three years of strict Covid restrictions.

The government will also resume express checkpoints on the borders with Hong Kong and Macau among measures due to start on Jan 8, the National Immigration Administration said in an announcement on WeChat. Applications by foreigners to extend or renew visas will also re-commence.

China has been largely shut off from the world since the onset of the pandemic, effectively stopping overseas leisure trips as part of its Covid Zero policy. That included urging the nation of 1.4 billion to stay in the country “unless absolutely necessary” for work, study or compassionate reasons.

Travel visas to Hong Kong haven’t been issued since early 2020 and the country stopped granting new passports in August 2021 for any unnecessary and non-urgent reasons.

Tuesday’s (Dec 27) announcement came less than a day after China downgraded the management of Covid from the top level to the second highest, effectively removing the legal justification for aggressive Covid Zero restrictions. BLOOMBERG