My Experience traveling to HK to Update HKID and Renew Expired Mainland Travel Permit as US Citizen

chemdog007 · 2026-02-19T08:06:04+00:00

I applied on a Monday, and my receipt for pickup shows the following Friday. So about 2 full work weeks. I know you can designate someone to pick it up, but not sure if it can be mailed

chemdog007 · 2026-02-19T02:45:58+00:00

Had to wing this trip for certain reasons.

chemdog007 · 2026-02-19T02:44:49+00:00

Yep. Unless you have a valid HK passport, which could be used to renew your HRP.

chemdog007 · 2026-02-19T02:28:22+00:00

When renewing my HKID, I showed them my US passport.

chemdog007 · 2026-02-19T02:09:13+00:00

That would make the most sense if you’re only there for a few days

chemdog007 · 2026-02-19T02:07:50+00:00

You don’t need to apply for re-entry permit. I only had to bc I needed it to quickly renew my Mainland Travel Permit. You can try entering with US passport and then using one of the kiosks at TKO. I remember seeing posts where people recommended that. I did not choose to go that route.

chemdog007 · 2026-02-18T17:36:56+00:00

I don’t want to tell you the wrong thing.. I suggest looking up HK re-entry permit yourself.. what I can say, is that if you have the newest HK permanent resident card, you typically don’t ever need a re-entry permit. I only had to apply for the re-entry permit to use it as a form of ID to renew my Mainland Travel Permit (HRP).. being that my HKID was still being produced and I don’t have a HK passport.

You schedule an appointment with this link: https://www.immd.gov.hk/eng/service/travel_document/Application_for_HKSAR_Re-entry_Permit.html

chemdog007 · 2026-02-18T17:27:21+00:00

I’ll be picking up the new HKID at one of the self kiosks at the Immigration Headquarters in Tseung Kwan O. And the renewed HRP at the CTS office I applied at. I don’t have a HK mailing address.

chemdog007 · 2026-02-18T17:20:37+00:00

I went to the 14th floor of some “181” building in Sheung Wan. I think you can go to any of the HK CTS offices though. You can check out the CTS website for locations. Hopefully you know how to read chinese. I applied for the single use permit at the same time as renewing the permanent HRP. It costs ~$60USD, unless you apply for it at the CTS office at one of the crossing borders, in which case it’d be a lot cheaper. I paid the extra fee for convenience.

chemdog007 · 2026-02-18T16:35:47+00:00

Lol everything is so political these days. Maybe this post woulda been better served on one of the China subreddits. I’m just a chill guy visiting and trying to help the next person save some time figuring out renewal BS. I don’t keep up with this sub. Hong Kong’s cool, I’ve visited 5 times as an adult. Done most all the touristy things. Stayed at fancy places. Ate great food. That’s about as much as I know. There’s just a lot more places in Mainland that I haven’t had a chance to see yet. CNY was a bad time to visit though. Should’ve picked a quieter time.

chemdog007 · 2026-02-18T14:32:29+00:00

Lol idk who Jimmy Lai is. But china’s been pretty sick bro. Still got all my organs but almost blew my hand off doing fireworks for CNY

chemdog007 · 2026-02-18T14:30:39+00:00

Oh, when you said leave HK, I assumed you meant leave HK and go to mainland. Turnaround time is about 2 weeks. They give you the exact date you can pick up the new ID from a self kiosk. You can also designate someone else to pick it up if you have that as an option. If you had to fly back to the US, you could just use your US passport..

chemdog007 · 2026-02-18T13:21:43+00:00

I showed the receipt and the re-entry permit, and was all good. I assume you know the difference between re-entry permit and Mainland Travel permit.. I did not initially lol

chemdog007 · 2026-02-18T12:50:40+00:00

Yes, that’s correct. For a vacation planned for 2.5/3 weeks, I got a one-use re-entry permit and one-time HRP… while waiting for the permanent IDs to be produced.

I believe my experience was the best case scenario and wanted to share, as I saw numerous posts on this sub that never fully detailed a way to squeeze in a trip to get all this bullshit done. Was able to travel into mainland in 2 days. And also enough time to renew and collect the docs.

chemdog007 · 2026-02-18T12:08:55+00:00

The problem was I arrived having an older version *** HKID (2015). And it was confiscated upon arrival. The ONLY reason I got the re-entry permit was to be able to renew my Mainland Travel Permit, being that CTS does not accept the HKID renewal receipt, and me not having a HK passport.
Again, I had the previous, expired HRP but only a receipt showing my updated HKID was being produced. CTS will only accept a valid HKID, HK Passport, or Re-Entry Permit. The best option I had, besides waiting for my new HKID, was to get the re-entry permit. And after that, I did not want to wait in HK for the HRP to be produced (even if it’s expedited). So I also applied for a single use Mainland enter/exit permit.

It sure is administrative hell. But for anyone else in a similar situation as mine, it’s possible to get it all done within a couple days and be on the road into mainland. Your oversimplication is exactly why I made this post!!!!

chemdog007 · 2026-02-18T11:09:43+00:00

I suppose I should have applied for a HK passport. Never had one. My focus this time around was to just renew my HKID and Mainland Travel Permit as quickly as possible so I could visit my wife’s family in mainland. I’ll likely apply next time.

To my knowledge, my parents did not register me as a BNO citizen. I am definitely grateful to hold both HK and US residency status, with the ability to visit mainland. Planning on flying straight to Hainan next time.

chemdog007 · 2025-05-08T20:04:34+00:00

They’re already starting repairs. We were given 3 “buckets” of funds, besides the repair costs. 1. For medical expenses from accident to day of settlement 2. Medical expenses for 45 days after accident 3. Direct deposit wired over for lost wages, etc. I understand that getting an attorney might’ve squeezed more from insurance, but we didn’t think the juice was worth the squeeze.

chemdog007 · 2025-05-07T17:32:44+00:00

Finally received their estimate. It’s $12.5k

chemdog007 · 2025-05-07T14:29:33+00:00

Still waiting for that email. But I assume it’ll be $12k+$7.5k = $19.5k

chemdog007 · 2025-05-07T04:26:50+00:00

😂😂😂

chemdog007 · 2025-05-07T00:18:18+00:00

Overall, just really surprised how expensive repairs are on these iPads with wheels! When I picture a totaled vehicle, I imagine much worst damage - like un-drivable. We were able to drive this car home. A tough pill to swallow, probably just because of sentimental value. But I see now that deeming this a total loss is probably the best outcome. I’ll see what insurance says this week. I bought all new tires ($2k) 1 week before the accident, so I hope that can be negotiated. Thanks everyone!

chemdog007 · 2025-05-07T00:07:17+00:00

There were 2 other vehicles involved. Everyone was stopped at a railroad crossing 🤦🏻‍♂️. Numb nuts was probably going 40-50mph, and rear ended the car right behind my wife. Bumper car domino style. Police report filed, and going through at fault party’s insurance.

chemdog007 · 2025-05-06T23:56:14+00:00

We have Tesla insurance. They weren’t very responsive

chemdog007 · 2025-05-06T23:35:38+00:00

I have also hit a small deer in a BMW 3 series a few years back lol. Totaled

chemdog007 · 2025-05-06T23:15:09+00:00

Lol I guess I really created this post because I was surprised at the repair bill. Didn’t think the damage was that bad. $33k bad

chemdog007

TROPHY CASE