'Mainland travel card benefits ethnic minorities'

Kowloon City district councillor Rizwan Ullah says the new mainland travel card announced by the central authorities is good news for the ethnic minority community in Hong Kong. The permit allows non-Chinese Hong Kong permanent residents to have visa-free access to the mainland, with China Travel Service issuing the permits from July 10. Ullah said on RTHK's Hong Kong Today programme that before the arrangement, it was a challenge for non-Chinese Hong Kong residents to obtain a mainland visa, but now it is simply an online application that can be completed in under 10 minutes. "First you go online and submit the documents, second phase is a preliminary screening by the authorities and third you go to the centre and submit the documents." Ullah also said that the new card will encourage some to grow their business in the Greater Bay Area. "There are a lot of business individuals and traders who are Pakistani, Indian and Nepali nationals in Hong Kong who can now seize this opportunity to expand their business in the mainland." He added that ethnic minority residents also see the new card as "recognition of their contributions to the country".