The Transport Department (TD) announced today (March 25) that having balanced the public health risks and in order to avoid crowdedness to reduce the spread of the virus in the community, the Licensing Offices of the TD have suspended walk-in counter services since February 10, but have continued processing applications for renewal of a full driving licence/vehicle licence or applications for an international driving permit with scheduled appointments, as well as licensing applications submitted through drop-in boxes, by post or online (except for the direct issue of a full Hong Kong driving licence). The TD is aware of the concerns of members of the public that the processing time of licensing applications has been longer than usual during the period. To cope with public demands, the TD has strengthened the related services as below:
Online appointments
The TD has expanded the online appointment services and quotas by phases. At present, other than making online appointments for renewals of a full driving licence/vehicle licence or applications for an international driving permit, members of the public can also make online appointments for applications for transfer of vehicle ownership. An applicant can submit a transfer of ownership application and/or a vehicle licence renewal application for the same vehicle within the scheduled time slot. Besides, to cater for service needs, the TD has increased the quota for online appointments from 1 000 per day originally to 4 500 per day from now to the end of April, and the opening period for appointments has been extended from two weeks in the past to 10 weeks, to facilitate members of the public to make early arrangements.
Manpower arrangements
The handling of the licensing applications submitted via drop-in box, by post or online involves more steps than when they are submitted instantly over the counters, and therefore requires longer processing time. As the renewals of the licences are essential public service, the Licensing Offices have been working in full strength. This apart, the Licensing Offices have also deployed staff from other divisions of the TD and employed additional manpower outside the establishment to assist in handling and expediting the processing of the licensing applications received.
Application processing procedures
Licensing Offices in general process licensing applications in the order of date of receipt and accord priority as much as practicable to processing renewal applications for licences/permits for which the validity period has expired or is about to expire. If the vehicle licences of the applicants are about to expire or there are any reasons requiring early renewals, applicants can mark on the envelope the vehicle registration marks and the expiry dates of the vehicle licences or state the reason concerned, and leave contact telephone numbers on the application forms. This is to facilitate the staff of the Licensing Offices to identify and follow up on urgent applications.
To avoid unnecessary delays, the TD appeals to the public to submit licence renewal applications two to three weeks before the expiry dates. Besides, to facilitate timely processing of the application by the Licensing Offices, members of the public should ensure that the respective application form is duly completed and all necessary supporting documents and a crossed cheque with the correct amount of payable fee are attached before submission. Please refer to the links below for the supporting documents required for the common licensing services.
Vehicle licensing: www.td.gov.hk/en/public_services/licences_and_permits/vehicle_licences/vehicle_licensing_and_registration/index.html
Driver licensing:
www.td.gov.hk/en/public_services/licences_and_permits/driving_licences/driver_licensing/index.html
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