Immigration Department Year-end Briefing

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Following is the full text of the speech by the Director of Immigration, Mr T K Lai at the Department's Year-end Briefing for 2002 today (January 24):

Introduction

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I am very glad to be here today to give you an account of the work the Department undertook in the past year.

The year 2002 was another hectic year. Amidst the colossal pressure and challenges we faced on all fronts, we stood by our mission of exercising effective immigration control while maintaining the quality of our service to the community. Specifically, we focused our attention on the following areas of work:

(a) to improve the environment at our control points and to provide a speedy immigration clearance service;

(b) to implement the updated information systems strategy for meeting the growing demands for quality service to be delivered in a more responsive and cost-effective manner;

(d) to combat illegal employment for protecting the local labour market and to fight other immigration-related crimes for maintaining law and order; and

(e) to enhance the forgery resistant level of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) passport and to lobby more countries/territories for visa-free access for holders of HKSAR passports.

I believe you have all received a detailed report on our major activities of last year. Let me now go through some areas of the report before answering your questions.

Control Point Traffic

The overall passenger traffic at our control points continued to grow at a fast pace. A total of 162.2 million passengers travelled in and out of Hong Kong by air, sea and land in 2002, representing an increase of 8.4 % over the preceding year. Lo Wu, already the busiest control point in the world, witnessed a year-on-year increase of 7%. On an average day, more than 260,000 people crossed the boundary there and the highest record made on 12 October 2002 was close to 360,000. The growth at Lok Ma Chau was phenomenal. The traffic there went up by 32.5% to 16.7 million in 2002.

Improvement at Boundary Crossings

We are keen to improve the conditions at the boundary crossings, especially Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau. An improvement programme consisting of multiple projects has been approved for implementation. For example, to upgrade the clearance capacity of Lo Wu, actions are on hand to erect at the eastern end of the departure hall 14 additional counters. At the arrival hall, 46 side-facing counters are being replaced by 48 front-facing counters. A modest increase in counter number aside, the improvement works will yield additional space for queuing and circulation. Active progress is also being made to enable the supply of conditioned air to the Lo Wu footbridge. The programme is targeted for completion in phases by February 2005.

The expansion project at Lok Ma Chau has been partly completed. The number of counters has been increased from 28 to 33. By the last quarter of 2003, when the project is completed, there will be 50 counters. Meanwhile, as a stop gap measure, we put in place an "Immigration Clearance Contingency Station". It was converted from two cargo containers. Inside the station are 4 make-shift counters, which can be deployed during the peak periods to increase the current handling capacity of Lok Ma Chau by some 10%.

From 27 January, 24-hour boundary crossing for passengers will be introduced at the Lok Ma Chau checkpoint. During the overnight period from midnight to 6:30 a.m., up to 10 counters will be manned. In addition, 2 kiosks for clearing private cars will also be operational. We shall closely monitor the situation there and deploy necessary manpower to cope with the demand.

Law Enforcement

The number of illegal immigrants continued to decline. In 2002, 5,362 illegal immigrants (daily average: 15) were arrested, down 35.6% from 8,322 (daily average: 23) in 2001.

On the other hand, illegal employment involving visitors became more rampant. To combat the problem, we conducted 3,580 operations in 2002 and arrested 12,908 illegal workers and their employers, up 23.6% and 46.5% respectively as compared with the preceding year. In order to raise the public's awareness of the serious consequences of engaging in this illicit activity, we have produced a new series of TV and radio announcements on "Don't hire illegal labour" which will be broadcast starting from this evening and you will have a prior viewing later on.

We also conducted 38 anti-vice joint operations with the Police last year. 2,303 suspected prostitutes, mostly from the Mainland, were arrested. We shall continue to work closely and exchange information with the Mainland authorities to tackle this problem.

At the control points, we continue to exert vigilance to keep out doubtful visitors and undesirables. To protect Hong Kong from being used as a transit point for illegal migration, the Airport Investigation Group (AIG) conducted 3,806 flight operations last year by inspecting travel documents of departing passengers at boarding gates and 7,375 spot checks on passengers at the transfer areas. As a result, 1,577 persons were detained for investigation with 987 of them successfully prosecuted for offences relating to the use of forged travel documents. The sentences on the convicted persons ranged from imprisonment of 1 to 17 months.

Right of Abode (ROA) Litigation

There were some 9,000 unsuccessful ROA seekers in Hong Kong when the Court of Final Appeal (CFA) delivered its judgment on 10 January 2002. By the end of the "Grace Period" in March last year, 4,721 of them had returned to the Mainland voluntarily. Since 1 April when the removal action started, 2,860 persons with no right to remain in Hong Kong have returned to the Mainland. Some 750 failed to report as scheduled for removal and have gone into hiding while 189 with outstanding litigation are still in Hong Kong. We will continue to take enforcement actions in accordance with the law to implement the CFA judgment.

Group Tour Scheme

Since the beginning of 2002, the quota system for the Hong Kong Group Tour Scheme has been abolished. A total of 1,199,962 group tour members visited Hong Kong last year, up by a significant 83.6% when compared with the figure in 2001.

iPermit Scheme

To attract for Hong Kong more visitors from Taiwan, especially those pack-and-go holiday makers, we implemented the iPermit Scheme on 18 March 2002. Featuring the use of Internet technology, the scheme enables Taiwan residents to obtain a visit permit in a few minutes as opposed to several days before that. Up to 31 December 2002, 123,228 iPermit applications were approved.

Business Visit Scheme

Under the existing arrangement which has been in place since December 2001, Mainland residents may now obtain single or multiple journey business visit endorsements (valid for up to 3 years) for entering Hong Kong for a visit of 14 days on each landing. During 2002, an average of 6,221 Mainland visitors entered Hong Kong under the Business Visit Scheme each day.

HKSAR Identity Card Project

The smart identity (ID) card project is progressing smoothly and on schedule. In May 2002, we successfully obtained a further funding commitment of $478 million from the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council, raising the total non-recurrent commitment to $1,225 million. With adequate funds in hand, we were able to take forward the activities planned in Phase II of the smart ID card project.

In September 2002, we struck a final decision on the card face design after taking into account the views collected from the public and security experts. Using the letters "HK" as a theme, the new smart ID card would incorporate sophisticated security features to make it very secure and fraud resistant. Based on the population distribution in various districts of Hong Kong, we have also identified suitable sites for nine New Identity Card Issuing Offices which are all conveniently located and easily accessible by public transport.

Because of the extremely stringent data security and data privacy requirements, it is necessary to set up a Key Management Authority (KMA) to provide strong protection in the generation and storage of secret card keys for secure authentication of each and every ID card and to ensure that only authorized applications and data can be loaded into the chip. With the assistance of the vendor, we have established our own KMA in Hong Kong. Ours is the second KMA in the world and the first in Asia which is permitted to operate outside of the vendor's plant.

To cater for the changes arising from the introduction of the smart ID card and its capacity to support non-immigration applications, the ROP (Amendment) Bill was introduced to the Legislative Council on 9 January 2002. The Bill is being vetted by a Bills Committee. Our aim is to get the Bill passed in the first quarter of 2003. If all goes well, there are good prospects that we can issue the first smart ID card in May 2003 and commence the territory-wide ID card replacement exercise in July 2003 as planned.

Information Systems Strategy Review

To upgrade the performance level and meet growing service demand, an updated information systems strategy (ISS-2) which comprises multiple projects will be implemented. The IT Infrastructure Upgrade Programme has rolled out in phases since November 2002 and the Immigration Control Automation System Enhancement Programme is scheduled for live operation from April 2004.

The feasibility studies on the Automated Passenger Clearance (APC) and Automated Vehicle Clearance (AVC) projects have been completed. The Finance Committee today approved the funds for the implementation of these two projects. When they are launched from the end of 2004, Hong Kong residents travelling on their smart identity cards will be able to complete immigration clearance on their own at self-service channels.

The feasibility study on the Enhancement of Processing Automation System Programme started in August 2002 and is scheduled for completion in June 2003. This programme will enable us to provide better services to people applying for visas, entry permits, extension of stay and civil registrations.

Since the implementation of the 24-hour appointment booking system for giving of marriage notices through the Internet or the Interactive Voice Response System in December 2001, members of the public are no longer required to queue up outside the marriage registries for a desired appointment for marriage on auspicious days. The service is welcome by members of the public. Up to 96% of the marrying parties who filed their marriage notice on the first day of the notice-giving period made their booking through the system last year.

Staff Training

The staff are our most valuable asset and there can be no better returns than investment in staff training to upgrade their professionalism and quality. We are glad that funding approval was given by the Finance Committee in June 2002 for the construction of a permanent Immigration Service Training School. The construction work which has commenced is expected to complete around August 2004.

Enhanced Productivity Programme (EPP)

2002/03 is the third and final year for delivering Enhanced Productivity Programme (EPP) savings. We have continued to do the best we can to cut cost on one hand and to maintain the standards of our service on the other. A total of 92 posts have been identified for contributing to the savings through various efficiency enhancement measures including process re-engineering, streamlining of procedures and greater use of information technology. We have also identified 59 posts under the Service-wide Voluntary Retirement (VR) Scheme for EPP savings. With the deletion of these 151 posts (30 officer grade, 22 rank and file and 99 civilian posts), a total of $39.9 million savings in personal emoluments (PE) can be delivered. Together with $5 million savings in the non-PE departmental expenses, the total savings for 2002/03 amount to $44.9 million, which are equivalent to 2% of the Department's baseline expenditure.

Concluding Remarks

Our commitment to serve the community to the best we could did not go unnoticed. In the Ombudsman Awards 2002, we were once again a winner of the Awards for Public Organisations. Two of my officers won the Awards for Officers of Public Organisations in recognition of their efforts in achieving fairness, accountability, openness and efficiency in serving the community. These awards speak for the unfaltering efforts of my staff to serve the people of Hong Kong. In the years to come, we will continue to uphold our values and contribute to the stability and prosperity of Hong Kong by performing our duties professionally. We hold firm to our belief in realizing our vision to become the foremost immigration service in the world in effectiveness and efficiency. Thank you very much.

End/Friday, January 24, 2003

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