History
| Home-Visiting Certificate for Compatriots from Hong Kong and Macau | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-1999 permit. | |||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 港澳同胞回鄉證 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 港澳同胞回乡证 | ||||||||||
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Before the transfer of the sovereignty of Hong Kong and Macau, 'home-return permits' were issued to any ethnic Chinese person in those territories.
Prior to 1999, permits were called Home-Visiting Certificate for Compatriots from Hong Kong and Macau and resembled passports. These booklets were considered inconvenient, because they were large and cumbersome to carry around. Furthermore, the booklets were also found to be inefficient because they could only be used at manned checkpoints where a manual stamp could only be made by an immigration official. Thus they are being phased out as residents replace them upon expiration.
In 1999, the permit was changed into its current card and the official name has changed from 'Home-Visiting Certificate for Compatriots from Hong Kong and Macau' to the current name.
Read more about this topic: Home Return Permit
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