About 1 million Hongkongers who haven’t replaced smart ID cards face long waits for appointments
- Surge in demand for appointments since overseas-based residents began returning after city reopened
- Old ID cards are still valid and may be replaced at six Registration of People offices across city
About 1 million Hongkongers who did not replace their identity cards during a four-year exercise which ended in March must now wait more than three months for an appointment to do so.
A check by the Post on Monday showed all appointment slots fully booked through to October 26, and it took more than an hour of queuing to enter the government website.
The replacement programme started in December 2018 to give residents new smart ID cards with improved security features. Nine special centres set up for the purpose closed when the exercise ended on March 3.
But residents may still apply for their new IDs at six Registration of People (ROP) Offices in Wan Chai, Cheung Sha Wan, Kwun Tong, Sha Tin, Yuen Long, and Tuen Mun.
The Immigration Department told the Post that about 6.84 million residents had replaced their IDs during the programme, accounting for 85 per cent of those eligible, leaving more than 1.2 million who had not done so as of March.
It said appointments at ROP offices had been tight in recent months, since normal travel resumed and there was a surge in demand by residents returning to Hong Kong and others.
Assuring Hongkongers that the older ID cards were still valid, it said the authorities would monitor the progress of ongoing replacements before deciding when to declare the old cards invalid.
The ROP offices offer around 18,000 appointment slots per week for ID replacements, fewer than the 7,700 a day at the nine centres during the exercise.
