BEIJING DENIES STRICT PASSPORT ISSUANCE REPORT

BEIJING: The report that China is suspending applications for private passports, recently circulating on social media and raising public concerns over further restrictions on outbound travel, has been dismissed by the exit and entry administration departments.

An online screenshot said China would suspend passport applications for personal reasons except for studies, work and funerals. Some netizens even posted messages online claiming their local exit and entry administration bureaus had refused to replace their passports.

Exit and entry administration departments, including those in Shanghai, Beijing and Tianjin, all dismissed the rumors.

When reached by the Global Times on Thursday, a staff member from the Beijing Exit and Entry Administration said private passport applications were operating normally and that people could make appointments online before coming to the administration office.

The Shanghai Exit and Entry Administration gave the same reply, but a staff member from the office told the GlobalTimes that “because the epidemic has not yet ended, applications for passports are not encouraged.”

Asked if applications for passports could be declined, the staff member said there was no official ban on passport applications, but the officers at the counter would decide the result in accordance with applicants’ personal circumstances.

The Shanghai- based The Paper confirmed at an administration office in Shanghai that applicants could not apply for passports for the purpose of “tourism.”

Officers at the Shanghai Jing’an district exit and entry administration told the reporter that if people urgently need to apply for a passport, they should not choose tourism as their purpose in the application form.