Zhejiang opens Saturday ‘fast-track’ passport and permit counters as demand for overseas travel surges

Facing a summer spike in outbound travel applications, Zhejiang Provincial Exit-Entry Administration launched special Saturday service windows on 13 June across 58 offices in its 11 prefecture-level cities. The initiative—branded “Convenience Saturdays”—will repeat on 27 June and 4 July, allowing residents to lodge or renew ordinary passports, Home Return Permits (for Hong Kong/Macau), and Mainland-to-Taiwan Travel Permits without taking time off work. Applicants can book slots via the National Immigration Administration (NIA) app, reducing counter waiting times to an estimated 20 minutes. For tech-savvy residents of Hangzhou, Ningbo and Jiaxing aged 16 or above, a fully online renewal path—“zero-visit processing”—is also available for lost-or-expired documents, with delivery in seven working days. Emergency five-day issuance remains in place for compassionate or urgent business travel, pending supporting evidence. Zhejiang recorded a 38 percent year-on-year jump in passport requests in Q1 2026, fuelled by the province’s booming private-sector outbound investment—especially in Southeast Asia—and the post-pandemic resumption of student exchanges. The Saturday extension is expected to add 25,000 daily processing slots, clearing a backlog ahead of the July–August peak. For corporate mobility managers, the change means employees can complete paperwork outside office hours, shortening overall assignment lead-times. HR teams should, however, remind staff that newly issued travel documents must still undergo destination-country visa or eTA processes; the Saturday windows cover Chinese documents only. Foreign residents in Zhejiang should note that the weekend sessions do not handle residence-permit extensions, which continue to require weekday appointments. Zhejiang’s move echoes similar after-hours pilots in Guangdong and Shanghai and aligns with the NIA’s 2025-2027 plan to digitise 80 percent of routine exit-entry services. Observers expect other provinces to copy the model if application volumes remain elevated through the end of the year.