Travellers shuttling between Hong Kong and the mainland will soon spend more time at meetings and less in queues. On 4 November, China’s National Immigration Administration confirmed that its biometric intelligent-customs system—already piloted at Shenzhen Bay—will go live on 5 November at a constellation of airports, ferry terminals and land checkpoints that funnel millions of people to and from the SAR.
The upgrade spans Shanghai Hongqiao and Xiamen Gaoqi airports, Guangzhou’s Pazhou and Nansha cruise terminals, Zhuhai’s Hengqin Port and, crucially, the busy Shenzhen crossings of Huanggang, Luohu, Futian, Liantang and Wenjindu as well as the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. Eligible users—mainland residents holding multi-entry permits, Hong Kong and Macao ID-card holders, and Taiwan travellers with valid permits—need only glance at a camera and place two fingers on a scanner for clearance that officials say takes under ten seconds.
![Biometric ‘Face-Swiping’ Lanes Roll Out Across Mainland Ports Linking to Hong Kong]()
Authorities argue the system will boost capacity by up to 65 percent once 46 additional e-gates come online next year. Hong Kong’s Immigration Department is watching closely; its own ‘Face Easy e-Channel’ arrived at the airport in September and could be extended to land borders in 2026.
For business travellers, the practical upside is faster door-to-door journeys and predictably timed agendas—an important factor as companies squeeze more client calls into single-day Guangzhou or Shenzhen hops. Mobility managers, however, must update privacy disclosures; use of the lanes requires explicit consent for storage and cross-border transfer of facial and fingerprint data.
Vendors are also circling. Hong Kong-based Advanced Card Systems has launched a compact e-passport reader to complement the e-gates, highlighting a micro-ecosystem of suppliers positioning the GBA as a proving ground for travel-tech innovations.
The upgrade spans Shanghai Hongqiao and Xiamen Gaoqi airports, Guangzhou’s Pazhou and Nansha cruise terminals, Zhuhai’s Hengqin Port and, crucially, the busy Shenzhen crossings of Huanggang, Luohu, Futian, Liantang and Wenjindu as well as the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. Eligible users—mainland residents holding multi-entry permits, Hong Kong and Macao ID-card holders, and Taiwan travellers with valid permits—need only glance at a camera and place two fingers on a scanner for clearance that officials say takes under ten seconds.
Authorities argue the system will boost capacity by up to 65 percent once 46 additional e-gates come online next year. Hong Kong’s Immigration Department is watching closely; its own ‘Face Easy e-Channel’ arrived at the airport in September and could be extended to land borders in 2026.
For business travellers, the practical upside is faster door-to-door journeys and predictably timed agendas—an important factor as companies squeeze more client calls into single-day Guangzhou or Shenzhen hops. Mobility managers, however, must update privacy disclosures; use of the lanes requires explicit consent for storage and cross-border transfer of facial and fingerprint data.
Vendors are also circling. Hong Kong-based Advanced Card Systems has launched a compact e-passport reader to complement the e-gates, highlighting a micro-ecosystem of suppliers positioning the GBA as a proving ground for travel-tech innovations.
