Hong Kong’s Immigration Department has sounded the starting gun on one of the busiest weeks of the year, projecting that about six million travellers will pass through the city’s land, sea and air checkpoints between 1 and 5 May. The bulk—close to five million—are expected to use the seven land boundary control points linking Hong Kong with Shenzhen and Zhuhai.
Amid the anticipated surge, travellers who realise they still need a China visa, travel permit or even a quick passport renewal can turn to VisaHQ for same-day processing and personalised support; the company’s Hong Kong portal (https://www.visahq.com/hong-kong/) lets users complete applications online and pick up approved documents before they head to Lo Wu or the bridge.
Daily peaks of 636,000 outward and 688,000 inward passengers are predicted on 2 and 3 May respectively, eclipsing pre-pandemic Golden Week volumes. To keep queues moving, the department has frozen frontline leave, opened extra e-Channel kiosks and agreed rapid staffing swaps with its Shenzhen counterparts. A temporary joint-command centre will operate inside Lo Wu station, bringing the Immigration Department, Police, Customs and the MTR under one roof for real-time incident management. Travellers are being urged to consult the government’s Easy Boundary app for live wait times and shuttle-bus frequencies across the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao Bridge and Lok Ma Chau corridor. The exercise is the first major stress-test of Hong Kong’s fully reinstated border since pandemic restrictions were scrapped last year. Officials say it will also showcase the expanded contact-less e-Channel system, which now supports mobile-generated QR codes and facial recognition for eligible frequent travellers. Airlines and ferry operators have been asked to stagger flight banks and sailing schedules to avoid a Saturday-morning crunch at Hong Kong International Airport and the China Ferry Terminal. For corporates moving assignees in and out of the Greater Bay Area, the message is clear: build in extra buffer time. Human-resources teams have been advised to warn staff about possible congestion at Lo Wu, Lok Ma Chau Spur Line and Shenzhen Bay, where daily averages could top 200,000 passengers. Companies that rely on same-day cross-border technicians should consider overnight accommodation in Shenzhen or northern Hong Kong to avoid overtime premiums. In the medium term, data gathered from the command centre will feed into Hong Kong’s plan to introduce advance passenger information (API) at land checkpoints—part of a wider push to digitise immigration control and support the region’s growing commuting workforce.