The mainland China authorities will from Tuesday (November 1) reactivate the use of electronic processing on applications for exit visas to visit Macau either for individual travel or as part of a group, and start considering applications from that date.
The information was given in a notice on the website of China’s National Immigration Administration, published on Monday (October 31).
The news came as Macau was in the midst of three days of mandatory home-testing for every citizen, following a number of Covid-19 infections. Ten cases had been recorded between October 26 and 3pm on Monday (October 31) according to figures released at the Monday afternoon press conference of Macau’s Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre.
Currently to cross the Macau border with Zhuhai in Guangdong province, a Covid-19 test certificate with 24-hour validity is required.
China’s immigration body said the move to electronic application for visas was in the interests of “economic and social development”, but on the condition that the Covid-19 pandemic was kept “under effective control”.
“The immigration departments of the security units will initiate the use of e-visa equipment to process travel visa applications from mainland residents that are visiting Macau,” stated the administration.
Applicants will still need to present themselves in person at the appropriate office, in order to register their electronic application. A number of investment analysts covering the Macau casino sector has said that during a period of suspension of electronic applications, the turnaround times for obtaining Macau visas had lengthened.
The announcement said that “starting from November 1, mainland residents can head to the immigration departments of the security units located near their address of hukou [household registration] or their permanent residence to apply for package tour group visas or individual travel visas to visit Macau.”
The announcement added: “The e-application… requires the applicant to have a valid Hong Kong/Macau entry permit, without having to submit any paper materials.”
The immigration department said that anyone who had travelled from or had lived in places of mid- and high-risk of Covid-19 infection “cannot use the e-visa equipment”.
The statement also advised citizens to “stay aware of the Covid-19 prevention and control measures in the mainland and in Macau”.
The Macau authorities and their mainland counterparts have been discussing details for the gradual resumption of package tours. Initially the package tour visitors would be from the provinces of Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Fujian, and the city of Shanghai.
The Macau government affirmed in a Monday statement welcoming the National Tourism Administration’s announcement, that resumption of electronic visa requests applied to applications submitted from anywhere in the country, and that the phased portion of the freshly-eased measures would apply to group tours.
“The central government’s resuming of the e-visa applications for mainland China residents to visit Macau and the Macau-bound package tours from the “Four Provinces and One City” are important drivers for Macau’s economic recovery,” said the statement via the city’s government information service.
The Macao Government Tourism Office said in a recent reply to GGRAsia that the city is getting ready to receive package tours from mainland China in November. Group tours from the mainland inbound to Macau had been suspended since early 2020, coinciding with the start of the pandemic.
Mainland China authorities had for a while paused altogether the issuance of individual travel visas for Macau, starting in January 2020, following the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic. Tour groups from mainland China to Macau were suspended around the same time.
Issuance of individual visas resumed later in 2020, but for in-person applications only.
(Updated 9.30am, Nov 1)
