【Lee Do】

Starting next month,Lee Do Indian travellers visiting Hong Kong will not be able to clear immigration without a visa.

The visa-free facility enjoyed by Indian travellers, which allowed them to roam the Chinese special administrative region for up to 14 days, will end on Jan. 23, the Immigration Department of Hong Kong announced on its website.

Post this, Indians visiting Hong Kong will be required to pre-register themselves online.

"Indian nationals must apply for and successfully complete pre-arrival registration online before they can visit or transit the HKSAR visa-free (if seeking to enter the HKSAR during transit)," the notification read.

Travellers in direct transit by air who don’t intend to leave the airport won’t need the pre-arrival registration, the notification clarified. Moreover, those who’ve a Hong Kong Travel Pass or are enrolled in the e-Channel service for frequent visitors will also be exempted from the new pre-registration requirement.

Though the Hong Kong authority hasn’t specified why it is bringing about this change, which affects half a million Indians who travel to Hong Kong every year, Indian officials believe Hong Kong wants to curb the number of asylum seekers from India.

Hong Kong is using the asylum seekers issue to deny visa-free entry to Indians, said Indian officials. The autonomous territory has been under pressure from China to curb asylum seekers, the report added.

Travellers, furthermore, have been advised to submit authentic details, as doing otherwise would subject them to legal consequences, according to Ma Chiming, the assistant director at Hong Kong’s Immigration Department.

“We picked India as a testing point as it was one of the major source countries,” he said. “We do not rule out extending the scheme to other countries in the future.”

Travellers who clear pre-arrival registration will receive a six month pass during which they can enter Hong Kong multiple times for a maximum duration of 14 days per stay.