China’s National Immigration Administration (NIA) has announced that the smart visa facility will be reopened to all of mainland China tomorrow, 1 November, allowing mainland residents to use the facility to apply for group and individual travel to Macau.
The announcement states, “Mainland residents can apply for group travel and individual travel visas using the smart visa facility at the entry-exit administration department of their household registration or usual place of residence, without the need to submit paper applications.
“Persons from areas with medium to high-risk of epidemic and those with a history of residence in medium to high-risk areas are not allowed to use the smart visa facility.”
This is the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 that applications for group tours to Macau will have been allowed.
Applications for travel to Macau from mainland China via the Individual Visit Scheme were also suspended in March 2020 and reopened on 23 September that year, however the use of the smart visa facility, or eVisas, has remained suspended with mainland residents only able to apply via paper applications on site at public security departments.
The Chief Executive of Macau, Ho Iat Seng, revealed in September that he had applied to the Central Government for the resumption of group tours and eVisas to Macau, and that the first phase would be open to “four provinces and one city” – including Guangdong Province, Zhejiang Province, Jiangsu Province, Fujian Province and Shanghai. However, the NIA’s announcement states that the facility will be open nationwide, other than for people in medium to high-risk areas.
In a note, Credit Suisse analyst Kenneth Fong said he expected this development to provide some “share price support” to Macau’s concessionaires, whose share prices have been decimated throughout the pandemic.
Nevertheless, concerns remain about the current outbreak in Guangdong Province, with Guangzhou recording more than 500 cases on Sunday and many mainland provinces restricting the entry of people from that city.
Macau is also in the early stages of its latest outbreak, with at least seven confirmed cases so far. Parts of Macau have been designated as focus areas and a number of buildings designated as red code areas, including MGM Cotai, which is sealed off until 1 November.
Because of these outbreaks, the entry and exit rules for those traveling between Zhuhai and Macau have been changed with all individuals required to show a negative COVID test obtained within the past 24 hours, reduced from a 48-hour window previously.
