Passport Validity for HK
 

I hold a valid Indian passport and intend to undertake a short business trip to Hong Kong for about 4-5 days.

I understand that I would get a visa on arrival in HK for 14 days but I am concerned that my passport wouldn't be valid for 6 months from the date of intended return journey from HK.

Is this a concern OR does my passport need to be valid only for the duration of my visit to HK ?

Could somebody please advise on this ?

I have written to the Immigration Dept of HK but still waiting to hear from them. I get conflicting replies from my travel agent and the local Chinese consulate.

i believe most countries now require 6 months left of validity in a passport for entry...

suggest you call the hong kong (china) embassy in your area or look on line for guidance....do not rely on a forum like this for absolute info

Your travel agent and the Chinese consulate gave you conflicting replies? That can only mean that the TA said it was ok, you didn't need 6 months of validity, and the Chinese consulate said it was NOT ok.

First of all, you don't need a visa. While you're on a business trip, you're joining a business or getting employed there. Indian nationals can have 14 days of visa-free visit.

www.immd.gov.hk/ehtml/hkvisas_4.htm

As for whether an expiring-within-6months passport is okay or not, I cannot find information. But you can look more closely in that website.

I think OP already got the right answer, from the Chinese consulate, but just didn't like it.

Oh, I mean the OP is <b>NOT</b> joining a business or getting employed there.

Candoit-particularly traveling in Asia, where they tend to strictly enforce this rule, you generally need to have 6 mohths remaining validity on your passport-however, I DON'T know if there are different requirements for Indian passport holders-why don't you call the Indian Embassy and just ask them, if that is in fact the passport you are intending to use?

The Indian Embassy is not going to be able to tell the OP what the Hong Kong government requires to clear Hong Kong immigration. Only the Hong Kong SAR government can do that. I called the Hong Kong Immigration Dept today (I live in Hong Kong) and they confirmed that only ONE MONTH'S validity is required for Indian passport holders plus the time of your trip, so if you are staying 5 days than your passport must be valid for one month and 5 days.

Now I am just an anonymous person on the web, so you can believe me or not. However, I had looked at the Immigration Dept website mentioned above, but I could not find any info on your particular question.

Number for the Immigration Dept in Hong Kong (general enquires) is 852- 2824- 6111. They have English-speaking personnel.

Actually, I don't agree with your statement at all Cicerone-what makes you think that the Indian Embassy would not have that information readily available for its citizens traveling abroad? The US puts what information it has on passport validity to US citizens, (albeit of a very general nature) and the Indian Embassy might just have precisely the type of information available to its citizens that the OP is seeking, since she can't be the ONLY Indian passport holder with that type of question, right? Which is why I think the Indian Embassy might be an equally, or even better source of information for this issue for its passport holders than HK.

Yes the US puts out the info on a general basis, and in the case of Hong Kong, that info is wrong; just take a look at the travel.state.gov webiste and the Consular Info page for Hong Kong where it says 6 months is required....

The Indian government may well have the same general (incorrect) information. I would not rely on it myself. Knowing the Indian government fairly well after 10 years of working with it, I can pretty safely say this. In any event, the Indian government is not the source of offical information regarding Hong Kong immigration any more than the US government is the official source of information on immigration into France.

True enough, but that doesn't mean categorically that the Indian Embassy won't have corect information per HK requirements for its OWN citizens-other countries can surprise you in that regard-they're sometimes way more efficient that the US State Dept. on passport/citizenship issues.

And as far as HK and other countries go, it very often depends on which official you're dealing with, as to whether you're going to get the correct information on immigration/visa/passport issues.

As an example, I have called Thailand before on this very issue, and the Thai Embassy could not tell me definitively whether I would be denied entry with less than 6 months-they agreed that it was a good idea to get my passport renewed before I left, although I believe I found the 6 mo. requirement for Thailand on the US State Dept. website. My point being that, regardless of what a HK official states over the phone, unless it's printed somewhere on a website or there's additional corroboration from other sources, one could find that a different set of passport validity rules obtain at the passport control point at the border.

Prior to posting this message on this forum, I did check with local Chinese consulate. Two people at the visa desk gave me conflicting information then a third person came on the line and said that it would be advisable for me to renew my passport to have a smooth trip and then hung up. I can't reach them since then.

I do not see a specific clarification to this point on the HK Immigration website.

I have emailed them but I still do not have an answer.

My travel agent tells me that 3 months is good enough.

This is what makes things confusing.

Oh, I see, that is confusing. If you are there for a business trip and have a document from the business you are visiting, and a return ticket, and a paper showing your hotel reservations, and cash and credit cards, and three months pp validity, then I can't imagine that they would send you back. They probably admit dozens of people a day with less than three months pp validity. I would probably renew.

Hi,

At last I have a written reply from the HK Immigration department. They tell me that they would require only a 30 day validity for the passport from the date of intended return ie. if one is planning a 5 day trip the passport needs to be valid for atleast 35 days.

Thought I would share this information with all fodorites.

Thanks for that. It is good to know and great that it worked out for you.

I am in same situation. Was very confused about 6 mths or 1 mth. Just spoke to Immigration Dept in Hong Kong (general enquires) is 852- 2824- 6111. She said adjustment to 6 mths will be done if we show early return ticket. She told me not to mention one month validity.