The Immigration Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government announced on Monday that self-service departure for visitors to Hong Kong (Smart Departure) will be launched at Hong Kong International Airport on Oct. 10.

The department said in a press release on Monday that Smart Departure aims to provide greater travel convenience for visitors while enhancing the effectiveness of immigration control.

Smart Departure employs face recognition technology for identity verification, which facilitates self-service departure for visitors.

Photos of visitors will be taken at arrival clearance counters to assist in authentication of their identities. The whole process takes about 20 seconds.

Visitors aged 11 or above who hold valid electronic travel documents compliant with the International Civil Aviation Organization's requirements and issued by designated countries or regions as announced by the department may perform self-service departure clearance through Smart Departure e-channels without prior enrolment.

According to the existing arrangement, all arriving visitors will be issued with landing slips. Upon completion of arrival clearance at immigration counters, the landing slips of eligible visitors will additionally bear the Smart Departure logo.

In addition, the department will also install cameras at arrival clearance counters to take real-time photos of visitors, which will be compared with the photos in their travel documents through face recognition technology for the purpose of identity verification.

The measures will be first implemented at Hong Kong International Airport and will be extended in phases to other control points.

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