The Hong Kong Immigration Department has announced a revision in fees for a range of services, including the issuance of visas, entry permits, travel documents, and despatch services to locations outside Hong Kong. The revised charges will come into effect on September 8, 2025, following legislative procedures.

“The Government sets and reviews various fees and charges according to the ‘cost recovery’ and ‘user pays’ principles, while fees charged by the Government should in general be set at levels adequate to recover the full cost of providing the goods or services,” the spokesman said.

The latest costing review showed that the fees payable for services including the issuing of visas/entry permits and travel documents and despatch services for delivering travel documents to places outside Hong Kong are not adequate to recover the full cost of providing those services.

“Taking into consideration that it is impractical to recover the full cost of all fees in one go, the fees of the services concerned will be increased by 3 per cent to 51 per cent with a view to achieving full cost recovery gradually. The fees will have little impact on the daily lives of most people and limited impact on general business activities,” the spokesman added.

The Immigration Department regularly reviews the arrangements for handling various types of applications and services to improve cost-effectiveness and quality. Measures are in place to control the cost of providing the services.

The proposed legislative amendments related to these fee adjustments will be submitted to the Legislative Council for negative vetting on July 2, 2025. The new fees will take effect upon completion of the legislative process.

Seaman’s identity book fees will increase from HK$310 to HK$430. Delivery fees to overseas locations will also increase, with registered airmail and express despatch services to Asia-Pacific, North America, and Europe seeing significant hikes.