British prime minister urged to act to fix Hong Kong passport delays

British Chamber of Commerce says renewal holdup is damaging trade

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Exchange student Katherine Horgan has been forced to fork out HK$1,200 for an emergency passport. Photo: May Tse

Published: 12:00pm, 30 May 2014Updated: 4:13am, 31 May 2014

Britain’s top trade body in Hong Kong has urged Prime Minister David Cameron to intervene over long holdups that are plaguing people trying to renew their passports in Hong Kong.

Christopher Hammerbeck, executive director of British Chamber of Commerce, said delays of up to three months were a serious business issue and warned it would have an impact in terms of "cost, delays and the inability to travel”.

“We raised the matter with the consulate. I also raised the matter with the MP who represents business interests in the House of Commons, and we have also had it raised with Number 10 Downing Street,” he said.

London closed the regional passport office at its Hong Kong consulate on December 28 and started issuing the travel documents from its passport office in Liverpool.

Consular officials have declined to say how many people have been affected, but the number is believed to be in the hundreds. According to the 2012 consular census, there were 250,000 full British nationals and 3.4 million British National (Overseas) passport holders in Hong Kong.

A spokeswoman for the government in London said: "It is to do with transferring from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's regional passport processing centres to Her Majesty's Passport Office."

Renewals previously took up to four weeks. However, consular officials have warned that renewals would now take at least six weeks and first-time applications could take eight weeks or longer.