Immigration
The Immigration Department controls the movement of people into and out of Hong Kong. It also issues HKSAR passports and other travel documents, visas and identity cards, and handles nationality matters and the registration of births, deaths and marriages.
Under Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok says the Government is providing assistance to several hundred Hong Kong people stranded at London’s Heathrow Airport due to heavy snow in Europe.
Staff from the Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office in London are at the airport helping more than 100 stranded Hong Kong students get food, accommodation and other urgent necessities.
The office is urging airlines to strengthen dissemination of information.
If the weather permits and flights can take off, he said the Immigration Department will send four officers to London tonight to provide further assistance. The department has so far received 152 enquiries and 39 calls for help, mostly regarding seats on flights.
Cathay Pacific said it is having difficulty rearranging cancelled flights at Heathrow. It will first arrange for young and unescorted students to return to Hong Kong when flights resume in better weather conditions.
Mr Lai said the Government and the airline will monitor the situation and when Heathrow resumes normal operation stranded students will be brought back to Hong Kong in an orderly manner.
If airlines cannot arrange enough flights for stranded students even after the airport is back to normal, the Government will arrange chartered flights when airport operations permit, he added.
People needing assistance can call the Immigration Department’s 24-hour hotline (852) 1868.
