Overseas experience: Director of Immigration Lai Tung-kwok (centre) and the immigration officers that will attend exchange programmes in France and South Korea.

Eight Immigration Department officers will travel to France and South Korea to boost ties in combating the use of forged documentation and irregular migration.

Director of Immigration Lai Tung-kwok said the visits will enhance staff quality and provide a good opportunity for the officers to gain a better understanding of overseas immigration authorities.

Chief Immigration Officer Ng Sze-wah and acting Chief Immigration Officer Mak Ying-ki will leave for France April 14. They will visit the Central Office for the Repression of Irregular Immigration & the Employment of Foreigners, and the office responsible for handling matters relating to refugees. They will also spend time with French Immigration at the Roissy Charles de Gaulle Airport.

The six others will leave for South Korea April 15, to visit immigration offices in Seoul and Busan. They will also attend a week of seminars on immigration service affairs, arranged by the Korean authorities.

Officers from the Korean Immigration and French Police attended exchange study programmes in Hong Kong last October and December, hosted by the Immigration Department.