All mainland provinces will resume issuing non-tourism visas for travelling to Macao, according to a report by Macao Daily News. However, group tour visas and the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS), by which most mainland travellers are able to visit the SAR, remain suspended.
Starting from 15 July, Guangdong province resumed acceptance of travel permit services to the Macao SARs for mainland residents who need permit S (a business permit) or permit D (a staying permit issued to workers or students).
Mainland China issues six types of visas: G (known as the Individual Visit Scheme), L (known as group tour), T (for relative-visiting individuals), S (for business purposes), D (for study or for work) and Q (for other purposes). Permits G and L are tourism visas, which are currently under identical application policies.
The Guangdong authority responsible for COVID-19 prevention recently told Wong Chan Man, a Macao member at the Guangdong Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, that 30 other mainland provinces will resume their visa services starting from 12 August. The Guangdong authority received the information from the State Council of China.
Based on the news report, starting from 12 August, residents of any mainland province who need to study in Macao, work in Macao or do business in Macao can apply for a travel endorsement.
At the current stage, the issuance of tourist visas for mainland residents to visit Macao remain suspended. Within mainland China, the free movement of people between cities and provinces resumed several months ago.
The Macao local government has been in communication with the Guangdong government regarding the resumption of the mainland’s tourism visas, but only the central Ggovernment can ultimately decide immigration policies.
Not only does the local government have no news on the tourism visas, but the Public Security Police Force (PSP) has also denied having any knowledge on when they might resume.
At Friday’s regular press conference of the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Center, the PSP said that the department had not received any formal notification regarding the 12 August resumption.
(Macau Daily Times/Macau News)
PHOTO © Macau Daily Times
