Physical features of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passport
Encyclopedia
Current version (biometric passport)
In 2006, the Immigration DepartmentImmigration Department (Hong Kong)
The Immigration Department of the Government of Hong Kong is responsible for immigration control of Hong Kong. After the People's Republic of China assumed sovereignty of the territory in July 1997, Hong Kong's immigration system remained largely unchanged from its British predecessor model...
announced that Unihub Limited (a PCCW
PCCW
PCCW Limited is the holding company of HKT Group Holdings Limited, Hong Kong's premier telecommunications provider in the Information and Communications Technologies industry. PCCW also holds a majority interest in Pacific Century Premium Developments Limited...
subsidiary company heading a consortium of suppliers, including Keycorp) had won the tender to provide the technology to produce biometric passports. In February 2007, the first ePassport was introduced.
The cover of the new biometric passport remains essentially the same as that of previous versions, with the addition of the "electronic passport" logo at the bottom.
Inside front cover
On the inner front cover of the passport, below the crest of the People's Republic of China and above a picture of the Great Wall of ChinaGreat Wall of China
The Great Wall of China is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in northern China, built originally to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire against intrusions by various nomadic groups...
are the following words:
On the reverse of the polycarbonate identification page insert is a blue image with the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region emblem in the centre. At the top is a pattern of the words "中華人民共和國香港特別行政區 HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA". At the bottom is a picture of Victoria Harbour
Victoria Harbour
Victoria Harbour is a natural landform harbour situated between Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula in Hong Kong. The harbour's deep, sheltered waters and strategic location on the South China Sea were instrumental in Hong Kong's establishment as a British colony and its subsequent...
behind a outline of the Great Wall of China
Great Wall of China
The Great Wall of China is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in northern China, built originally to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire against intrusions by various nomadic groups...
.
Identification page
The identification page appears on a polycarbonatePolycarbonate
PolycarbonatePhysical PropertiesDensity 1.20–1.22 g/cm3Abbe number 34.0Refractive index 1.584–1.586FlammabilityV0-V2Limiting oxygen index25–27%Water absorption – Equilibrium0.16–0.35%Water absorption – over 24 hours0.1%...
insert between the front cover and the first page. Using laser engraving technology, the holder’s photograph is printed in black and white, with the holder's Hong Kong Permanent Identity Card
Hong Kong Identity Card
The Hong Kong Identity Card is an official identity document issued by the Immigration Department of Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Permanent Identity Card is a class of HKID issued to Hong Kong residents who have the right of abode in Hong Kong SAR. According to the Registration of Persons Ordinance...
number printed vertically on the right-hand side of the portrait photograph. The passport is also machine readable, designed for immigration control points equipped with passport scanners. Details which are printed include:
- Travel document type: P
- Code of Issuing State: CHN (People's Republic of China)
- Passport number
- Surname and Given Names: in Traditional Chinese and English
- Nationality: "CHINESE" (The nationality code is CHN as shown in the machine readable zoneMachine-readable passportA Machine Readable Passport is a travel document where the data on the identity page is encoded in optical character recognition format. Many countries began to issue machine readable travel documents in the 1980s....
) - Sex: denoted as "M" (male) or "F" (female)
- Place of birth: if born in China, name of province/autonomous region/municipality; if born in Hong Kong or Macao, 'Hong Kong' or 'Macao'; if born in other countries, name of country
- Dates of birth, issuance and expiry: displayed in the format DD-MMM-YY
- Authority (of issue): "IMMIGRATION DEPARTMENT, HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION" (in Traditional Chinese and English)
The code "CHN" (People's Republic of China) is used for both issuing state and nationality. This is the same as PRC passport and Macau SAR passport. (It is worth noting that during the British colonial era, a Hong Kong British Dependent Territories Citizen passport used "HKG" as the code of the issuing state and "GBD" as the nationality code).
Instead of printing the holder's signature on the identification/observation pages, space is reserved on the last page of the passport below the emergency contact information for the holder to complete his/her signature.
Security features
Enveloping the top right hand corner of the portrait photograph, and the surname, given names and nationality data sections is a kinegram, consisting of an amalgamation of the Chinese and Hong Kong flags, and the letters "HK香港".In the middle of the identification page is a multiple laser image consisting of two circles: in the left hand circle is another image of the holder's portrait photograph, at the bottom of which is the passport number; in the right hand circle is the Hong Kong regional flag (the red and white reverse gradually as the viewing angle is changed).
The Hong Kong permanent identity card number is printed at the bottom right hand side of the portrait photograph as a trapezium shape which gradually widens towards the bottom.
The three waves at the bottom of the portrait photograph, as well as the straight line separating the machine readable zone from the rest of the data page and the vertical straight line of the right hand column of Tsing Ma Bridge
Tsing Ma Bridge
The Tsing Ma Bridge is a bridge in Hong Kong. It is the world's seventh-longest span suspension bridge, and was the second longest at time of completion. The bridge was named after two of the islands at its ends, namely Tsing Yi and Ma Wan . It has two decks and carries both road and rail...
, contains micro-lettering of the holder's English name, Hong Kong permanent identity card number and date of birth.
The background of the identification page changes under ultraviolet light, when a scene of the Tsing Ma Bridge
Tsing Ma Bridge
The Tsing Ma Bridge is a bridge in Hong Kong. It is the world's seventh-longest span suspension bridge, and was the second longest at time of completion. The bridge was named after two of the islands at its ends, namely Tsing Yi and Ma Wan . It has two decks and carries both road and rail...
with nighttime fireworks becomes visible. The identification page also contains an engraving of a bauhinia, but with certain lines replaced by microlettering consisting of "HKSAR".
Inner pages
All the inner pages have seasonal flowers at the side, and different "華" characters in the centre (in English this means "Chinese"). As well as being printed in red at the bottom of each page, the passport number is perforated through the top section of all the odd-numbered pages. At the bottom of each page is a gold outline of the Great Wall of ChinaGreat Wall of China
The Great Wall of China is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in northern China, built originally to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire against intrusions by various nomadic groups...
. The seasonal flower is printed across the middle of even-numbered and odd-numbered pages. When two pages are rolled up such that they meet each other, the seasonal flower on the right margin of odd-numbered page matches up with the flower on the left margin of the even-numbered page (e.g. pages 11 and 14), forming a complete bunch of flowers.
The observations page, located on page 1, contains a photograph of the holder. If the passport is issued through a Chinese foreign mission, the embassy/consulate will make an endorsement in the observations stating so.
The explanatory notes on the passport are placed on the second last page of the passport, and read as follows-
The last page of the passport has a section to be filled in by the holder with contact information in the event of an emergency, as well as a space for the holder to complete his/her signature.
Contactless biometric data chip
Data included in the contactless chip of the passport:- Name in Chinese and English
- Nationality (i.e. Chinese)
- Sex
- Date of birth
- Place of birth
- Permanent Hong Kong identity cardHong Kong Identity CardThe Hong Kong Identity Card is an official identity document issued by the Immigration Department of Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Permanent Identity Card is a class of HKID issued to Hong Kong residents who have the right of abode in Hong Kong SAR. According to the Registration of Persons Ordinance...
number - Facial image
- Passport number
- Date of issue
- Date of expiry
- Issuing authority (i.e. Immigration Department, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region)
Fingerprints and iris scans are not included.
The explanation from back cover for the chip is as follows:
Second Version (2003-2007)
Starting from 1 January 2003, the second version of the passport was introduced with enhanced security features. The passport was machine readable, designed for immigration control points equipped with passport scanners. The passport size was . The second version of the Hong Kong SAR passport was available either as a 32-page ordinary-size passport or as a 48-page passport.Front cover
The cover of the passport was dark blue with wording and the national emblem of the People's Republic of China in gold. The word Passport in Traditional Chinese and English are found below the crest. Above are the words Hong Kong Special Administrative Region People's Republic of China, also in Traditional Chinese and English. It is worth noting that the Chinese characters 中華人民共和國 (People's Republic of China) are bigger than the characters 香港特別行政區 (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region) on the passport cover. In English, however, "HONG KONG" is bigger than the phrase "SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA" for easy distinction by foreign immigration officials.Inner front cover
The passport note appeared on the second page in Chinese (Traditional characters) and EnglishEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
:
Inner pages
The passport's observations page on page 3 had the following:- the holder's Hong Kong Permanent Identity CardHong Kong Identity CardThe Hong Kong Identity Card is an official identity document issued by the Immigration Department of Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Permanent Identity Card is a class of HKID issued to Hong Kong residents who have the right of abode in Hong Kong SAR. According to the Registration of Persons Ordinance...
number, and the Chinese Commercial Code of the holder's Chinese name - if the passport was issued through a Chinese foreign mission, the embassy/consulate would also make an endorsement in the observations stating so.
- an official chop by the Immigration DepartmentImmigration Department (Hong Kong)The Immigration Department of the Government of Hong Kong is responsible for immigration control of Hong Kong. After the People's Republic of China assumed sovereignty of the territory in July 1997, Hong Kong's immigration system remained largely unchanged from its British predecessor model...
- a machine-readable barcode
The passport's explanatory notes were on page 1 in Chinese, and on page 2 in English. They consisted of the following words:
Identification page
Personal data was recorded on the inner rear cover of the passport, which was covered with a security laminate. Details included were:- Travel document type: P
- Code of Issuing State: CHN (People's Republic of China)
- Passport number
- Surname and Given Names: in Traditional Chinese and English
- Nationality: "CHINESE" (The nationality code is CHN as shown in the machine readable zoneMachine-readable passportA Machine Readable Passport is a travel document where the data on the identity page is encoded in optical character recognition format. Many countries began to issue machine readable travel documents in the 1980s....
) - Sex: denoted as "M" (male) or "F" (female)
- Place of birth: if born in China, name of province/autonomous region/municipality; if born in Hong Kong or Macao, 'Hong Kong' or 'Macao'; if born in other countries, name of country
- Dates of birth, issue and expiry: displayed in the format DD-MMM-YY
- Authority (of issue): "IMMIGRATION DEPARTMENT, HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION" (in Traditional Chinese and English)
There was also a machine readable zone at the bottom of the identification page.
Changes from the first version included optically variable ink
Optically Variable Ink
Optically variable ink is an anti-counterfeiting measure used on many major modern banknotes.The ink displays two distinct colors depending on the angle the bill is viewed at. The United States fifty-dollar bill, for example, uses color shifting ink for the numeral 50 so that it displays copper at...
used to print the letters "HKSAR" along the left hand side of the photo and the words "IMMIGRATION DEPARTMENT, HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION" in the "Issuing authority" section of the personal data page.