Only one valid passport allowed, Hong Kong confirms, after it was revealed that detained Huawei executive Sabrina Meng was in possession of three from city
- Sabrina Meng had at least seven passports – four from mainland China and three from Hong Kong, court documents showed
- Immigration Department says new and previous HKSAR passports can be ‘cross-linked’ but old one is still invalid
Holders of Hong Kong passports can only have one valid version at any one time, immigration authorities confirmed on Sunday night, after it was revealed that a Huawei Technologies executive recently detained in Canada was in possession of three travel documents from the city.
A spokesman for the Immigration Department said it did not comment on individual cases but confirmed that holders of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passports could only possess one valid one at a time.
There were circumstances where the holder could apply to have an old invalid – expired, damaged or out-of-date – passport combined with a new one, such as if there was still a valid visa in it, the department said. But the old passport itself would still be invalid.
“Cross-linking of HKSAR passports means making an endorsement on both the previous and new passports to the effect that the previous passport bears a visa, which is still in force, but the previous passport shall be cancelled,” the spokesman said.