Most of the 192,000 applications for Taiwan Visit Permits from 2002 to 2004 were approved, with only 254 rejected, Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee told legislators.

This represents just 0.1%.

As Taiwan Visit Permits are made in the applicants' personal capacity, he said, the Government does not compile statistics on whether applications involve Taiwan officials. Nor does it keep track of the number of applications reported to the Central People's Government for approval.

In determining whether activities of individual Taiwan officials in Hong Kong are official contacts, the Administration will take into account all relevant factors and circumstances before making a decision, Mr Lee said.

The Director of Immigration is not obliged under the law to provide any reason for rejecting an entry application, he said.

He said, in general, the main reasons for rejecting entry applications include doubts over the purpose of the visit, travel documents with a limited validity period and having insufficient funds, adding the Immigration Department does not compile statistics on the reasons for rejecting Taiwan Visit Permits.  

Mr Lee said the Government has introduced a number of improvement measures in recent years to facilitate the entry of visitors from Taiwan

iPermit Scheme facilitates entry

On March 18, 2002, the iPermit Scheme was introduced under which the processing time of applications takes only a few minutes. From the introduction of the scheme to March 31, a total of 547,417 iPermits were issued.