Hong Kong Identity Card

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The Hong Kong Identity Card (abbreviation: HKID, ID card; Chinese: 香港身份證) is an official identity document issued by the Immigration Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China. Hong Kong Permanent Identity Cards (Chinese: 香港永久性居民身份證) are a class of HKIDs, issued to persons who have the right of abode (ROA) in Hong Kong SAR. According to the Registration of Persons Ordinance, Article 177 of the Hong Kong Law, all people of age 11 or above who stay in Hong Kong for longer than 180 days must, within 30 days of either reaching the age of 11 or arriving in Hong Kong, register for a HKID. HKIDs contain the name of the bearer in English, Chinese and Chinese telegraph code, the date of birth and a special code as well as a black and white photograph.

Contents

[edit] History

Hong Kong has had a long history of utilizing identity documents, ranging from the earliest system, a manually-filled paper document, to the smart card introduced in 2003. Hong Kong's identity cards have not, from their original issue to the present day, aroused much controversy over their use.

Before 1949, the Hong Kong government did not impose limits on residents of the Chinese mainland migrating to Hong Kong. Generally, people could freely move into and out of Hong Kong, then a British colony, and China, then the Republic of China. Hong Kong also did not register its residents who held ROC citizenship. In 1949, the year the People's Republic of China was established, the government began to register Hong Kong residents in order to issue compulsory identity documents. These measures were put into practice in order to halt the large influx of refugees from Communist China and control the border from mainland China to Hong Kong. This exercise was completed in 1951. Although registration was compulsory for all residents, people were not required to carry their documents with them at all times when going into public.

Beginning on 1 June 1960, the government introduced the second generation of ID cards. These contained the bearing the holder's fingerprint, photograph, and an official stamp. The information was typed, and the card was laminated. Males had a blue card and females had a red card. The format of card was once again replaced in November 1973, this time with a card which bore the holder's photograph but no fingerprint. The colour of the stamp identified and differentiated permanent residents (black) from non-permanent ones (green). Because of this, new immigrants became known as "green stamp tourists" (Chinese: 綠印客).

Starting 24 October 1980, it became compulsory that one carry their identity card with them when in public areas and produce it when requested by a police officer. This law was passed in order to halt the waves of illegal immigrants flowing into the city. The government adopted a policy of deporting illegal immigrants to China within 3 days if they could not produce a valid ID card.

In March 1983, the identity cards were converted to new ones produced using a digital process in order to reduce forgery. This also simplified border controls. On 1 June 1987, the Immigration Department produced cards without the right-of-abode chop which would last through the handover on 1 July 1997. In 2003, the government began to replace the cards with smart IDs in stages. See the relevant section.

[edit] Classes of HKID

Two classes of Hong Kong Identity Cards exist:

  • the Hong Kong Permanent Identity Card, which states that the holder has the right of abode in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and
  • the Hong Kong Identity Card - which does not state that right.

In addition, these are further divided into "children" identity card for people below age 11 (see note below), "youth" identity cards for people from the age 11 up until 18, and "adult" identity cards issued from age 18 onwards.

(note: "children" identity cards are not compulsory to obtain, and are normally issued when children obtain HKSAR passport. "Children" identity card holders are required to change to "youth" identity card when they reach age 11.)

Thus, there are six types of ID cards in total. However, with the introduction of the smart ID, each type can either appear in the "old" or "new" format. Therefore, as of 2006, twelve types of cards are in active circulation. After the last cohort of "children"/"youth" cards are replaced by 2007, only seven types will remain - a small minority of adults may not bother to obtain, or even know about, the new card.

[edit] Permanent HKID and Right of Abode

Permanent HKID holders have the Right of Abode (Chinese: 居留權) in Hong Kong. Under the Basic Law of Hong Kong, a person who belongs to one of the following categories of persons is a permanent resident of the HKSAR and enjoys the ROA in the HKSAR :

  • Chinese citizen born in Hong Kong before or after the establishment of the HKSAR
  • Chinese citizen who has ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for a continuous period of not less than seven years before or after the establishment of the HKSAR.
  • person of Chinese nationality born outside Hong Kong before or after the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to a parent who, at the time of birth of that person, was a Chinese citizen falling within category (a) or (b).
  • person not of Chinese nationality who has entered Hong Kong with a valid travel document, has ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for a continuous period of not less than seven years and has taken Hong Kong as his place of permanent residence before or after the establishment of the HKSAR.
  • person under 21 years of age born in Hong Kong to a parent who is a permanent resident of the HKSAR in category (d) before or after the establishment of the HKSAR if at the time of his birth or at any later time before he attains 21 years of age, one of his parents has the ROA in Hong Kong.
  • person other than those residents in categories (a) to (e), who, before the establishment of the HKSAR, had the ROA in Hong Kong only.

[edit] Eligibility

Residents of Hong Kong are required to obtain an HKID card at the age of 11, and Hong Kong residents at or over the age of 15 are required to carry legal identification with them at all times (that is, the HKID card)[1]. Also, bearers of a "youth" HKID card must switch to an "adult" HKID within 30 days after their 18th birthday. The "youth" card becomes invalid as a document for entry into Hong Kong at this point and the "youth" HKID card will be taken back by Immigration Department, and a receipt will be given back to the application which would be used as a temporary identity document until the "adult" HKID card is ready. However, this receipt cannot be used as an immigration document, and if the card holder needs to travel outside Hong Kong during this period, they need to get a one-time re-entry permit or HKSAR passport in order to pass through the immigration checkpoint.

As children under the age of 11 does not bear a photo and cannot be used as an immigration document, a Hong Kong Re-entry Permit is issued in its place to allow re-entry into Hong Kong for travelers that require it.

[edit] HKID Number

HKID cards contain the bearer's HKID number, of which the standard format is X123456(A). X represents any letter of the alphabet, or the letter U followed by any letter of the alphabet (UH and UY are common but others exist. These are usually given to mothers who have just given birth, but may or may not have right of abode in Hong Kong, and are therefore temporary until a proper number can be established, and used most commonly in hospitals. Also, the babies cannot hold HKIDs but hospital filing systems are based on ID number, hence the need to assign temporary ones). The numerals may represent any Arabic number. A is the check digit, which has 11 possible values from 0 to 9 and A. There are 26 million possible card numbers using only one letter, and while the numbers of those who have died are not reassigned, there are still sufficient numbers in the near future.

[edit] What are the meanings of the symbols on the face of a smart identity card?

(Information taken from http://www.smartid.gov.hk/t_en/faq/index.html#00ac )

   * Name in Chinese (if any)
   * Name in English
   * Name in Chinese Commercial Code (if any)
   * Sex
   * Date of birth
   * Symbols
   * Holder's digital image
   * Month and year of first registration
   * Date of registration
   * Identity card number (Note)


Symbol Descriptions
*** the holder is of the age of 18 or over and is eligible for a Hong Kong Re-entry Permit.
* the holder is between 
       the age of 11 and 17 and is eligible for a Hong Kong Re-entry Permit.
A the holder has the right of abode in the HKSAR.
C the holder's stay 
       in the HKSAR is limited by the Director of Immigration at the time of
his registration of the card.
R the holder has a right to land in the HKSAR.
U the holder's stay 
       in the HKSAR is not limited by the Director of Immigration at the time
of his registration of the card.
Z the holder's place of birth reported is Hong Kong.
X the holder's place of birth reported is the Mainland.
W the holder's place of birth reported is the region of Macau.
O the holder's place of birth reported is in other countries.
B the holder's reported 
       date of birth or place of birth has been changed since his/ her first
registration.
N the holder's reported name has been changed since his/ her first registration.
Note: The check digit in 
       brackets is not part of the identity card number. It is only for facilitating
computer data processing.

[edit] Hong Kong Smart Identity Cards

Firstly, on 23 June, those who had lost or damaged a card, those who had just reached 11 and were about to apply for their first card, those who had just reached 18 and were about to change their card, or those adults who were about to apply for their first card, obtain a smart ID instead of the old card. Beginning August 2003, all of Hong Kong began to replace their cards in order of birth year, starting with 1960 and later, then earlier. As of April 2006, those born in around 1982 are replacing their cards. The process will be complete in 2007. People may replace their cards in any of 9 smart ID card centres around the city.

From June 23rd, 2003 onwards, the Immigration Department of Hong Kong began issuing a new revised Smart Identity card. The new cards contain an embedded microchip, which stores the bearer's information electronically. Previous HKID documents remain valid, but any new cards issued (for example, on loss, renewal, or new application) were of the new Smart Identity Card type. In addition, existing holders of HKID documents were called to apply to have their old-style HKID documents replaced with the new Smart Identity type cards. This eligibility was offered to existing HKID holders based their Date of Birth on a rolling basis as time went on in order to prevent the volume of applications exceeding the pace at which the government can issue these revised documents. The Government of Hong Kong has been gradually moving the window of applicants eligible for replacement, and it is expected that the whole Replacement Exercise will be completed on 31 March 2007. Persons born in 1993 to 1996 or 1986 to 1989 should have applied/apply for smart identity cards at the Registration of Persons Offices when they attain the age of 11 or 18. However, it is also expected that a certain portion of HKID holders would have neglected to apply for the updated cards during the replacement programme's time frame.

The introduction of Smart Identity Cards was, amongst other things, motivated partially by the influx of counterfeit HKID documents being produced in China, and partially in order to speed up processing at Hong Kong's Immigration Checkpoints into Shenzhen, China, where in 2002, an estimated 7,200 Hong Kong residents commuted daily to Shenzhen for work, and 2,200 students from Shenzhen commuted to school in Hong Kong.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Immigration Ordinance (Chapter 115) Section 17C, Hong Kong Law

[edit] External links

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