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Residents of south China's Guangdong Province are now required only to present ID cards and permanent residence booklets when applying for passports, officials with the provincial public security department announced Tuesday.
This means passport applicants will no longer need to prepare a heavy package of documents which used to be indispensable to the application process.
The method began a trial in Zhongshan city on April 1, 2001, and has since been implemented in many other cities such as Shunde and Guangzhou in the province.
In 2002, the province handled a total of 490,000 passports, up 30 percent over the previous year.
During the first half of this year, the method will be carried out in the cities of Shantou, Zhaoqing, Maoming, Meizhou, Chaozhouand Jieyang, department officials said.
They added that the practice will be expanded to all the other cities in the province in the second half of the year.
Local exit-entry administration offices will grant passports within 15 working days after application with ID cards and residence booklets, according to officials.
(Xinhua News Agency March 7, 2003)
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