COVID-19: Entry document issuance temporarily suspended

The National Immigration Administration of China announced last week that it would temporarily stop issuing entry and exit documents to Chinese citizens.

Key Points:

• As of Aug. 4, the Chinese government stopped issuing passports and entry and exit documents to Chinese citizens for nonessential and nonemergency travel.
• The suspension includes ordinary passports, permits and endorsements for travel both to and from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.
• Chinese citizens who have confirmed overseas studies, employment or business will not be affected by the travel document suspension.

Additional Information: Chinese authorities have issued a total of 335,000 passports in the first half of 2021. This accounts for only 2% of the total number of passports that were issued in the same period of 2019.

BAL Analysis: The response to the COVID-19 pandemic continues to develop, and BAL will provide additional updates as information becomes available.

This alert has been provided by the BAL Global Practice group. For additional information, please contact berryapplemanleiden@bal.com.

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