In the first quarter of this year, the number of exits and entries through Beijing's ports exceeded 4.7 million, registering a year-on-year increase of nearly 23 percent. Specifically, the number of inbound and outbound trips of foreign nationals surpassed 1.1 million, indicating a year-on-year increase of 44 percent.

By March 31 of this year, the Beijing General Station of Immigration Inspection processed over 580,000 entries by foreign nationals. Specifically, 260,000 were made visa-free, taking 45 percent of the total entries by foreign nationals and rising by 140 percent year-on-year. The corresponding temporary entry permits were issued for nearly 18,000 entries by foreign nationals eligible for the 240-hour visa-free transit, a number marking a 13.8-percent rise year-on-year compared with the period before this transit policy was introduced. The major purposes of entries include tourism, business, and family reunions.

The Beijing General Station of Immigration Inspection has been continuously improving the efficiency of exit-entry services and the experiences of the travelers involved. It has piloted optimized procedures for issuing the temporary entry permits at the Beijing Capital International Airport and the Beijing Daxing International Airport. Based on the extant locations for issuance, special channels for issuing temporary entry permits have been added. In the Capital Airport's Terminal 3 which sees a relatively large passenger volume, inspection channels and a waiting area have been set up at the immigration inspection zone for the inbound passengers, adopting a mode of "simultaneous inspection for two queues" to effectively expedite the entry processes. In addition, airlines have been encouraged to adopt electronic boarding passes and pilot self-printing of arrival cards for foreign travelers.

(Source: Beijing Daily)