Hong Kong permanent residents aged 11 or above can immediately register for the Immigration Department’s Seamless e-Channel service, provided they hold a valid smart identity card and have made at least six arrivals or departures through the passenger terminal at Hong Kong Port on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge in the previous 90 days. The department estimates that about 90,000 people will qualify.
Applicants aged 11 to 17 must begin registration through the mobile application used for the service and log in through a separate government mobile application to consent to the use of personal data. The applicant’s parent or legal guardian must then use the registration app on their own device to scan the child’s registration QR code and complete the consent process.
Eligible adults can register through the service’s mobile application or at designated e-channels at the port. When a qualifying traveller uses one of those e-channels, the system identifies them and displays a registration prompt. Selecting it completes registration and immigration clearance together, allowing the traveller to use Seamless e-Channel on their next departure.
The pilot began at the port on 25 June and had recorded about 14,000 registrations and more than 100,000 uses after roughly three months. It uses facial recognition and artificial-intelligence technology to verify identity, so travellers do not need to show an identity card or an e-channel QR code. The Immigration Department describes the departure procedure as taking about five seconds.
It said it would collect more data, continue reviewing how well the service works and how the system operates, and study whether to extend it to other control points and types of travellers.