Mainland travel documents and the Hong Kong permit

If you are a Mainland resident coming to Hong Kong to study, to work, or to live as a dependant, you need 2 sets of documents. One set is issued by the Hong Kong Immigration Department. That is a visa or an entry permit, issued as an e-Visa. The other set is issued by the exit-entry administration of the public security authorities on the Mainland. That is an Exit-Entry Permit for Travelling to and from Hong Kong and Macao, and an endorsement for travel to Hong Kong. You need both. The category of the endorsement must match your status in Hong Kong. These notes follow the National Immigration Administration's implementation standards, at provincial level, for issuing endorsements for travel to and from Hong Kong and Macao (checked 19 October 2026). They also follow Immigration Department pages on dependants, on activities a visitor is permitted to take part in, and on the requirements for a visit visa or an entry permit (checked 19 October 2026). What you file in practice follows the local exit-entry administration.

What each set of documents controls

1. The entry permit from the Hong Kong Immigration Department decides the status in which you stay in Hong Kong, how long you may stay, and what conditions of stay apply. Examples are IANG, the General Employment Policy, the Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals, the Top Talent Pass Scheme, student, and dependant.
2. The Mainland endorsement decides the purpose on which you leave the Mainland for Hong Kong. That purpose must match the Hong Kong entry permit.
3. The Immigration Department page states the rule. A Mainland resident who has been approved to come to Hong Kong must apply to the relevant Mainland authorities for the Exit-Entry Permit and for the related endorsement for travel to Hong Kong. When you go through arrival clearance, you must produce the e-Visa as well.

The 7 categories of endorsement

The categories below follow the National Immigration Administration's implementation standards.

1. Visiting relatives (T). This is for visiting a relative who has settled in Hong Kong, who lives there long term, who is studying there, or who is working there. For a visit to a brother or sister, to a grandparent on either side, or to a grandchild through a son or a daughter, a single-journey endorsement valid for 3 months may be issued, and each stay must not exceed 14 days. For a visit to a spouse, a parent, or another lineal relative, a multiple-journey endorsement valid for 3 months may be issued.
2. Business (S). This is for staff of an enterprise or an organisation, and for an operator of an individual industrial and commercial household, going to Hong Kong for business. Staff of an enterprise that has completed the required filing may be given a single journey valid for 3 months, multiple journeys valid for 3 months, or multiple journeys valid for 1 year. Each stay must not exceed 7 days.
3. Group tour (L). Each stay in Hong Kong must not exceed 7 days.
4. Individual visit (G). Each stay in Hong Kong must not exceed 7 days.
5. Stay (D). This is for a person approved by the relevant Hong Kong authorities to go to Hong Kong to take up a posting, to study, to work, to reside, or to train, and for a person going to Hong Kong as a dependant to join family. A multiple-journey endorsement is issued. The validity is set to the longest validity of the entry permit issued by the Immigration Department. The holder should enter and leave Hong Kong as the Hong Kong entry permit provides.
6. Talent (R). This is for 6 categories of Mainland talent working in a Mainland city of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area: outstanding, scientific research, culture and education, health, legal, and other. Outstanding talent is granted multiple journeys for 5 years. Talent in scientific research, culture and education, and health is granted multiple journeys for 3 years. The legal category and the other category are granted multiple journeys for 1 year. Each stay in Hong Kong or Macao must not exceed 30 days.
7. Other (Q). This is for a special purpose such as medical treatment, a funeral, litigation, sitting an examination, dealing with property, or an academic exchange. Each stay generally must not exceed 14 days.

Work and study use the stay endorsement (D)

1. To apply, you must produce for inspection the corresponding entry permit issued by the Hong Kong Immigration Department.
2. If you apply again after the validity has expired, produce for inspection the extension permission issued by the Immigration Department.
3. The order to follow in practice:
   1. Apply to the Immigration Department for the visa or the extension. After approval, you receive the e-Visa.
   2. Take the e-Visa to the Mainland exit-entry administration and apply for a D endorsement.
   3. On entry, produce the Exit-Entry Permit, with a valid D endorsement, and the e-Visa.
4. A move from study to work. While you are studying in Hong Kong, the D endorsement is for study. After you graduate and IANG, or another work visa, is approved, your status in Hong Kong has changed. Apply for the endorsement that matches the new entry permit.
5. Each time an extension is approved, renew the endorsement against the new extension permission. If the Hong Kong limit of stay has not yet expired but the endorsement has, renew the endorsement before you arrange travel from the Mainland to Hong Kong.

A talent endorsement (R) is not a Hong Kong work visa

1. An R endorsement is for Mainland talent working in a Mainland city of the Greater Bay Area. It is used to travel to and from Hong Kong and Macao for the related activities. Each stay must not exceed 30 days.
2. An R endorsement is an endorsement on a Mainland exit document. It is not a work visa, and it is not an entry permit, issued by the Hong Kong Immigration Department.
3. If you want to be employed in Hong Kong, you still need a work visa, or a visa under a talent scheme, issued by the Immigration Department, and you then apply for a D endorsement.

What you cannot do on a tourist or business endorsement

1. Regulation 2(1) of the Immigration Regulations (Cap. 115A). A visitor must not take up employment, paid or unpaid, must not establish or join in any business, and must not study.
2. A breach of a condition of stay is a criminal offence. Section 41 of the Immigration Ordinance (Cap. 115) provides for a maximum fine of HK$50,000 and imprisonment for a maximum of 2 years.
3. Business activities the Immigration Department lists as open to a visitor:
   1. signing a contract, or taking part in a tender or in a bid;
   2. inspecting goods or equipment, or supervising installation or packing;
   3. taking part in an exhibition or a trade fair, which does not include selling directly to the public, providing services, or setting up a booth;
   4. settling a claim, or conducting civil litigation;
   5. carrying out a business or technology inspection visit, at an invitation;
   6. taking part in a short seminar or in another meeting.
4. The Immigration Department states that, except in very special circumstances, a tourist is not permitted to change from visitor status after arrival. Do not plan to enter as a tourist and then switch to a work visa in Hong Kong.
5. A job interview. The list of activities a visitor may take part in does not specifically mention a job interview (checked 19 October 2026). What can be said for certain is this. Before the work visa is approved, and before the D endorsement is in place, you cannot start any work for an employer. That includes unpaid trial work.

Papers in a work-visa application that concern a Mainland resident

1. Under the Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals, TechTAS, and schemes of that kind, the application must include a letter of consent for employment in Hong Kong, issued by the current work unit or by the relevant Mainland authority. This applies to a Mainland resident. Which cases it covers follows the webpage of the scheme in question.
2. A Mainland resident who has not been issued a travel document may submit a Mainland resident identity card when applying under some of the schemes.
3. Dependants. A Mainland spouse or child may apply only where the sponsor is a person permitted to take up employment in Hong Kong, a person permitted to study a local degree programme, or a person under a scheme such as the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS) or the Top Talent Pass Scheme. After approval, a D endorsement is required as well.

Time and fees on the Mainland side

1. The processing time that is promised: the endorsement is issued within 7 working days after the application is accepted. Where transport is difficult, or in a special case, the time may be extended to 20 working days if the provincial exit-entry administration approves the extension. The statutory time limit for a decision is 60 days.
2. The fees, under National Development and Reform Commission Pricing [2017] No. 1186, are:
   1. an endorsement valid for 1 journey, RMB 15 each;
   2. an endorsement valid for 2 journeys, RMB 30 each;
   3. multiple journeys valid for up to 1 year, RMB 80 each;
   4. multiple journeys valid for more than 1 year and up to 2 years, RMB 120 each;
   5. multiple journeys valid for more than 2 years and less than 3 years, RMB 160 each;
   6. multiple journeys valid for 3 years or more, RMB 240 each.
3. If you apply somewhere other than the place of your household registration, you must submit proof that you meet the conditions for an application away from that place.

A check before you travel

1. Whether the limit of stay on the Hong Kong e-Visa, and the category of status, are correct.
2. Whether the validity of the Exit-Entry Permit itself covers the dates on which you plan to leave and to enter.
3. Whether the endorsement category is D, and whether its validity matches the latest entry permit.
4. Whether, after each extension, the endorsement has been renewed.
5. Whether, when you travel, you carry both the Exit-Entry Permit and the e-Visa, stored on a phone or printed on A4 paper.

Sources

• National Immigration Administration, implementation standards for issuing endorsements for travel to and from Hong Kong and Macao (provincial level) (checked 19 October 2026)
• National Immigration Administration, announcement on the pilot of a talent-endorsement policy for travel to and from Hong Kong and Macao in Mainland cities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (cited in the implementation standards, checked 19 October 2026)
• Immigration Department, Dependants webpage (page revised 5 August 2026, checked 19 October 2026)
• Immigration Department, webpage on activities a visitor is permitted to take part in (page revised 1 March 2025, checked 19 October 2026)
• Immigration Department, webpage on the requirements for a visit visa or an entry permit (page revised 26 August 2026, checked 19 October 2026)
• Immigration Department, Technology Talent Admission Scheme webpage (page revised 16 April 2026, checked 19 October 2026)
• Immigration Regulations (Cap. 115A), regulation 2(1); Immigration Ordinance (Cap. 115), section 41