Hong Kong axes arrivals cards

Visitors to Hong Kong will no longer need to fill out an arrivals card, with the country announcing this week that those little white slips of paper have now been scrapped as of Wednesday 16 October 2024 – in other words, effectively immediately.

The Hong Kong Immigration Department confirms that “all visitors are not required to complete and furnish arrival or departure cards when passing through immigration clearance points.”

The move is at odds with a steady worldwide push towards digital arrivals cards which are also mandatory for all travellers – as recently seen in New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia.

At the same time, ‘electronic travel authorisations’ are becoming more in vogue.

The UK will roll out its worldwide ETA program in January 2025 (with a £10 application fee attached), with the EU-wide European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) following in the first half of 2025.

Thailands’s ETA is also due to launch in January 2025, while Japan has announced plans for its own JETSA travel permit.

As previously reported by Executive Traveller, Australia’s incoming passenger card overseas visitors and returning residents will soon be replaced by a digital Australia Travel Declaration.

The ATD will be trialled on selected flights from New Zealand to Australia, before being introduced “to encompass all passengers to Australia,” an Australian Border Force spokesperson told Executive Traveller.

Read more: Australia’s incoming passenger card goes digital