Expired Home Return Permit, concerned about renewal process, please advise.

SidTheKid · 16-11-2018, 11:08 PM

Hi everyone,

If anyone have time, please give me some advice on the following questions.

My Home Return Permit expired a year ago and I need to renew it in-order to go to China for a few days.

I have downloaded the form 1 on the CTS HK site for renewal, but on the section for home address for myself and my parents, I don't know what to fill in.

I do not have any friends or relatives in Hong Kong, but my company have an office in Hong Kong, do you think CTS will have a problem if I put my HK company's Chinese address? Will they validate the address? I am currently in Singapore at the moment.

Also, does anyone have recommendations for a pre-paid sim card for oversea call forwarding? I saw that China Mobile offer this Prepaid SIM Card, not sure about the call quality.

https://www.hk.chinamobile.com/en/corporate_information/Prepaid_SIM/local_users/prepaid-services-4g3g-localtalk.html

I have the following documents that I will bring for the CTS appointment:

HK birth certificate
***AZ HKPID issued in 2007
Expired BNO Passport
Expired Home Return Permit issued in 2007
US Passport with a changed name

For renewals, have anyone been asked to show all their passport? I read on other threads that for first time applicants, they were required to fill out a "sheng ming shu" form if the name on their HKPID is different than their passport. I am not sure for renewals will they ask me to show my US passport, which have a different name than my HKPID.

In-case I need it, I tried to find the "sheng ming shu" form, but was unsuccessful. Does anyone know what is the official name for it?

Below is the CTS links I found, but I don't think they are the "sheng ming shu" form.

http://ww1.ctshk.com/pdf/visa/chinaPermit01.pdf - this is the form I will use for renewal
http://ww1.ctshk.com/pdf/visa/chinaPermit02.pdf - this looks like it's a Letter of entrustment
http://ww1.ctshk.com/pdf/visa/chinaPermit03.pdf - this one, I don't know.

Lastly, I heard people just go to the photo-booths to get their picture taken instead of bringing their own, does all CTS branches have a photo-booth? I plan to go to the one in Central.

Thank you in-advance for taking the time to read and response, I appreciate it.

Regards,
Sid

SidTheKid · 22-11-2018, 12:39 PM

Quick update what happened.

I proceeded with making a appointment and flew to HK overnight. My appointment was at 9:30am and I arrived in HK at 6am.

7-Eleven did not have the 80 hkd China Mobile PrePaid sim card for sale, so i waited for the China Mobile shop next door to open at 7am.

Bought the sim card, asked the sales lady to help me setup oversea call forwarding, top up 100 hkd just incase i need more minutes.

Used free wifi to test call with google voice, forwarding worked.

Took airport express to HK Station, walked to CTS Central.

Went to 2nd floor, paid 50 hkd for photos, the staff there will instruct you on how to position your head.

Got the photos, went to staff and asked if i can submit my application early because i have an appointment, they said sure go ahead. If you did not make an appointment, you will be given a ticket number and be told to come back at 2pm. The line for booked appointment and getting a ticket is the same.

I had about 20 people ahead of me, total wait time was about 20 minutes. They had 10-14 counters, so the process tome depends on the applicant's request.

When it was my turn, I handed my HKPID, HRP and HRM renewal form to a lady. She did not ask me questions about passport and name, but she did say that I wrote my home address in the wrong order. She tried to explain to me what I did wrong, but after a couple of seconds, she just filled it out for me. So just for FYI, if you are not familiar on HK address format, just make sure Hong Kong is stated at the beginning instead of the end. I wrote Hong Kong at the end of the address. Also you will be asked for a copy of your HKPID and HRP, if she is nice, she will make a copy for you for free. I don't know if they normally charge for them or not.

So after the lady helped me fill out the form, she gave me the price for the permit renewal, I asked if it would be ok to get it expedited and she said yes, the cost would be $$$. No questions asked on why, just hand her the money.

I paid the fee, got a receipt with a date and barcode listed. 5 business days later, the card will be ready for pickup at the self-help vending machine. It listed pickup time between 10-5pm at the same agency that handled your application.

Overall the time from waiting in the queue to processing at the counter was about 40 minutes.

I spent more time on airplane/ waiting for China Mobile than getting my HRP renewed.

I headed back to airport, used octopus card on Airport express train, so i got a free return ticket for same day travel.

When I was making travel arrangements, I paid an extra 250 hkd for my flights to include no booking fee in case I was able to renew the permit early, so instead of an evening flight back home, I was able to catch an afternoon flight. If you are staying in HK for more than 10 business days, then you will have less time constraints like me.

Hope this help folks out there in similar situation.

penguinator · 09-03-2019, 02:55 PM

Originally Posted by SidTheKid:

Below is the CTS links I found, but I don't think they are the "sheng ming shu" form.

http://ww1.ctshk.com/pdf/visa/chinaPermit01.pdf - this is the form I will use for renewal
http://ww1.ctshk.com/pdf/visa/chinaPermit02.pdf - this looks like it's a Letter of entrustment
http://ww1.ctshk.com/pdf/visa/chinaPermit03.pdf - this one, I don't know.

Hi Sid, thanks for the helpful info! Could you let me know whether the first link was the correct form to fill out to renew your China home return permit?

Thanks!

james_hklocal · 09-03-2019, 06:40 PM

It is supposed to be the correct form. But a few months ago when I used the online form, the counter staff said it was outdated and gave me an updated form (didn't notice any difference though).

Originally Posted by penguinator:

Hi Sid, thanks for the helpful info! Could you let me know whether the first link was the correct form to fill out to renew your China home return permit?

Thanks!