A 20-member Immigration Department delegation has begun an eight-day study programme on the Mainland, to learn about cross-boundary immigration work, frontier inspection duties and criminal psychology. 

The delegation will visit Chongqing in Sichuan Province before returning to Hong Kong on December 7.

The officers will attend lectures on immigration work, the management of Mainland residents travelling to and from Hong Kong and Macau, frontier inspection duties, the police system and organisational structure of the Chinese immigration system, Chinese culture, and criminal psychology. 

It is the eighth Mainland Study Programme at Beijing Gong An University. The Beijing Office and the Immigration Service Institute of Training & Development is co-ordinating it.

Acting Assistant Principal Immigration Officer (Prosecution &Litigation) Law Chun-nam is leading the delegation, which is made up of four Senior Immigration Officers, eight Immigration Officers, three Chief Immigration Assistants and four Senior Immigration Assistants.

Director of Immigration Simon Peh met the officers before they left yesterday. He said the study programme would provide a good opportunity for them to enhance their understanding of the Mainland Immigration Authority's operations and help establish a firmer and closer working connection with Mainland counterparts.