LCQ11: Mechanism of direct issue of Hong Kong full driving licence
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Question:
Under the existing legislation, a person holding an overseas driving licence issued by a recognised country or place may be directly issued with a Hong Kong full driving licence without taking a local driving test (direct issue of driving licence). It has been reported that queuing gangs have recently been blatantly offering facilitation service for direct issue of driving licence in the vicinity of the Hong Kong Licensing Office of the Transport Department (the Licensing Office) and on social media platforms (such as Xiaohongshu, etc), and some individuals have been transferring their same-day queue tickets after waiting in line early in the morning at the Licensing Office, raising suspicions of abuse of services. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether the aforementioned facilitation service is illegal;
(2) whether it has reviewed if the existing legislation is adequate in combating the suspected abuse of services and transfer of queue tickets as mentioned above; if so, of the details;
(3) of the measures the Government will adopt to combat the suspected abuse of services and transfer of queue tickets as mentioned above, including whether it will consider conducting decoy operations on social media platforms (such as Xiaohongshu) or at the Licensing Office; if so, of the details; and
(4) given the current significant demand for direct issue of driving licence, whether the authorities will consider optimising the existing ticket distribution mechanism or application process (including the existing system of online appointment booking for services), so as to shorten applicants' waiting time and enhance overall efficiency?
Reply:
President,
The Transport Department (TD) implements direct issue of a Hong Kong full driving licence without test ("direct issue") in accordance with regulation 11(3) of the Road Traffic (Driving Licences) Regulations (Cap. 374B) (the Regulations), which allows a person holding a driving licence issued by one of the 32 countries and places specified in the Fourth Schedule to the Regulations (recognised countries or places) to be directly issued with a Hong Kong full driving licence without taking a local driving test for driving private cars, light goods vehicles, motor cycles and/or motor tricycles, provided that specified conditions are met.
According to the Regulations, to apply for "direct issue", the driving licence issued by the relevant recognised country or place must still be valid or expired for not more than three years, and be obtained by the applicant after successful completion of a driving test conducted in the issuing country or place. Also, the applicant must be aged 18 years or above and meet one of the following requirements: (1) the driving licence held was issued during a period of the applicant's residence of not less than six months in the issuing country or place; or (2) the applicant has been holding the driving licence issued by the recognised country or place for not less than five years immediately prior to the application; or (3) the applicant is the holder of a passport or other equivalent travel document issued in the country or place in which the driving licence was issued.
A consolidated reply to the various parts of the question raised by Dr the Hon Dennis Lam is as follows:
(1) to (3) For the convenience of the general public, the TD, as in the case of other licensing services, allows applicants for "direct issue" to choose to submit their applications and supporting documents in person or by authorised persons (including family members, friends, etc) based on their own needs. To meet the eligibility criteria of "direct issue" under the Regulations, an applicant or his/her authorised person should, when submitting an application, produce the relevant original copies of various supporting documents which are authentic and accurate (including a valid driving licence issued by the recognised country or place, the applicant's passport/other travel document, proof of address or Certificate of Driving Licence Particulars, etc) for on-site inspection by TD staff. The TD has been processing the applications in a stringent manner to ensure that all applications are correctly approved.
Currently, applicants for "direct issue" may use counter services and submit application documents through making online appointments or obtaining same-day queue tickets at the Licensing Offices. As regards obtaining same-day queue tickets, in order to maintain the good order of queuing, the TD has further stepped up staff patrols, set up additional barriers to separate those queuing up for the tickets for "direct issue" and those for the tickets for general driving licensing services, and demarcated designated areas for queuing. In addition, in relation to "direct issue", the TD will specify the sequence of queuing tickets to prevent situations such as queue-jumping. The TD has been posting notices and deploying staff and security guards to provide on-site assistance as appropriate. Any acts found to be disrupting public order will be reported to the Hong Kong Police Force for follow-up.
To strengthen verification of the identity of queuers, the TD has enhanced the queue ticketing system for same-day queue tickets to ensure that a person using the same identification document (ID) can only obtain one queue ticket for each time slot. The counter staff will conduct strict checking of the ID number of the user and ascertain that the queuer is the one who uses the counter services, so as to curb transfer of queue tickets. Once an unauthorised transfer of queue ticket is found, all relevant queue tickets will become void immediately and the applications will not be processed.
To address the issue of individuals touting facilitation services after obtaining same-day queue tickets, the TD will further enhance the queue ticketing system from mid-August 2025, whereby all queuers will be required to input both the ID numbers of their own and those of the applicants for "direct issue", which will then be printed on the tickets. When a ticket holder uses the counter services, the counter staff will verify his/her ID numbers and those of the applicant. If either of these ID numbers does not match with those printed on the ticket, the ticket will become void and the application will not be processed. This enhanced arrangement will deter individuals from touting with the same-day queue tickets obtained. The TD will publicise the latest operational arrangement of the queue ticketing system on its website and announce the relevant information through social media. The TD staff will post notices on-site and provide assistance to members of the public at the venue.
(4) The TD has been highly concerned about the situation of queue ticketing and online appointments, and has implemented targeted enhancement measures. Apart from the aforementioned enhanced arrangements for same-day queue tickets, in terms of online appointments, the TD will strengthen its co-operation with the relevant issuers of driving licences. For example, starting from September 2025, applicants' information in relation to Mainland driving licences provided via online appointments will be checked. If the information is found to be untrue, the relevant online appointment will be cancelled and the quota will be reopened for appointment by other applicants. The relevant measures will ensure the enhancement of effective operation of the system.
The TD will keep in view of the effectiveness of the aforementioned enhancement measures and make timely adjustments to the relevant arrangements, as well as continue to promote the digitalisation of licensing services, thereby allocating more counters for processing applications which require counter services such as "direct issue".
Ends/Wednesday, July 23, 2025
Issued at HKT 11:15
Issued at HKT 11:15
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