The move is designed to encourage more of Guangdong's young and elderly to visit the two SARs or to reunite with their family members there, said an official from the Exit and Entry Department under the Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Public Security yesterday.

As a neighbor of Hong Kong and Macao, Guangdong has a large number of children and elderly persons whose parents or children are working in the SARs.

Currently people must provide company certificates or certificates from local police bureaux and public security departments to apply for travel documents to visit Hong Kong and Macao SARs.

The official said his department would simplify application procedures even more in the near future to encourage local residents to visit the SARs.

Local residents with travel documents will not need approval from their work units or police bureaux if they wish to apply for a permit to visit Hong Kong and Macao for a second time.

To help handle urgent applications, a special "green counter" will be set up in every municipal exit and entry department, the official said.

The travel documents of those who want to visit critically ill family members in Hong Kong and Macao will be approved in two working days, while those who want to participate in funeral ceremonies will be able to get their travel documents in three working days.

(China Daily October 10, 2002)