VISA RULES ARE CONSISTENT WITH NATIONAL POLICY

today SCMP letter from Mr Song Ronghua, spokesperson of the Commissioners Office of the Foreign Ministry in HK explaining the visa policy + explaining that the commissioners office "remains committed to the long-term prosperity + stability of Hong Kong".
With no doubt I believe that the issuance of visa is "in line with China's relevant laws and regulations". But the daily practice in issueing esp multiple-entry visas should be handled more business friendly esp for applicants with HK ID card and their "foreign passports" plastered with entry + exit chops + multiple-entry visas. Following part is interesting in this letter:
quote
For the convenience of the public, the latest visa requirements can be found at the website of the commissioner's office (http://www.fmcoprc.gov.hk/).
As for the issuance of multiple-entry visas, they are still available for those applicants in need and who are qualified.
Applicants are required to provide their Hong Kong identity card, an original visa notification form issued by the relevant authorities, and supporting documents indicating business relations (such as business licenses and contracts).
Applications will be considered case by case.
unquote
Going to the FMCOPRC website you can find following under "Additional information":
quote
(1) Foreigners with Hong Kong permanent resident status can apply for "L" or "F" multiple visa valid for one to three years by providing personal Hong Kong Permanent Identification Card, as well as a copy of the said ID card.
unquote
And then under "Visa categories & requirements of supporting documents" you will find this information for multiple F visa:
quote
2. F visa for business and visit (updated from April,2008)
To apply for single or double entry business and visit visa
(1) Visa Notification Form issued by the relevant department
of Chinese government or the government-authorized company;
(2)A copy of Chinese hotel booking;
(3)A copy of return flight ticket booking;

To apply for multiple-entry business visa, Visa Notification Form issued by
authorized Foreign Affairs Office or Bureau of Commerce(original),together
with Hong Kong Permanent ID card (original and photocopy) and other
possible supporting documentation( Registration Certificate of your company
in China, etc) are needed. Multiple-entry visa is issued at the discretion of the consular officers.
unquote
a) This is going in circles !
b) With no word it is mentionend that the "Visa Notification Form" is only issued to foreign nationals working either for a WFOE or JV in China. This is maybe a maximum of 10% of all multiple-entry visa applicants. This is for Mr Mercedes + Mr Siemens. Besides this we can assume that most of this staff if need to go very often or even stay in China anyhow have a valid work + residence permit - so they do not need a multiple-entry F Visa.
c) How can the staff in the visa office with "several thousand applicants a day" (Mr. Song Ronghua says there are several thousand applicants a day) decide + judge which applicant is really "in need" of a multiple-entry visa ?
There are a maximum of 6 or 7 open counters - if several thousand applicants (lets take only 2,100 for 7 counters) a day with 6 opening hours for applicants - then each staff will see 50 applicants per hour - how can this work ?
Having 1.2 minutes to decide if the applicant is in "need" for a multiple-entry visa ?
Or is this "several thousand" applicants including all the people easily to sort out by skin-color in the queue downstairs which will be even not let into the building because they have wrong passport + belong to the 33 banned countries who need to apply any kind of visa "at home" ?
For some more parts of this letter to the SCMP - please "enjoy" here:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/14/content_8172111.htm