Which HKSAR passport form applies in 2026: ID 841, 842, 843 or 844?

The form you need depends on two facts: the applicant's age on the day you apply, and where the application is lodged. As of October 2026, the Hong Kong Immigration Department's form pages for Application for HKSAR passport split applications four ways — ID 841 for people aged 16 or above applying in Hong Kong, ID 842 for children under 16 applying in Hong Kong, ID 843 for people aged 16 or above residing outside Hong Kong, and ID 844 for children under 16 residing outside Hong Kong. No separate English-only edition appears on those pages; each form is issued as a single Chinese and English document, so it is the same form whether or not the person filling it in reads Chinese.

Everything beyond eligibility and submission — the address to send papers to, supporting documents, photographs — sits in each form's separate guidance notes, covered further down.

What decides which form you use?

Ask two questions, in this order.

Check the applicant's age on the day you apply. The cut-off is 16 years of age.
Check where the application will be lodged. Inside Hong Kong, or from outside Hong Kong.

Those two answers land you on one cell: adult in Hong Kong → ID 841; child in Hong Kong → ID 842; adult outside Hong Kong → ID 843; child outside Hong Kong → ID 844. The two overseas forms describe eligibility as residing outside Hong Kong rather than simply applying from abroad, which is a wording difference worth reading carefully if you live in Hong Kong but happen to be travelling. The FAQ below returns to that point.

How do the four forms compare?

Form	Who it is for	Pages and file size	Submission details given in	Date under "Supplementary Notes"
ID 841	Person aged 16 or above applying in Hong Kong	3 pages, 933 KB	Guidance Notes ID(E) 841A	16-03-2026
ID 842	Child under 16 applying in Hong Kong	3 pages, 1.53 MB	Guidance Notes ID(E) 842A	02-10-2024
ID 843	Person aged 16 or above residing outside Hong Kong	2 pages, 653 KB	Guidance Notes ID(E) 843A	11-06-2024
ID 844	Child under 16 residing outside Hong Kong	3 pages, 1.03 MB	Guidance Notes ID(E) 844A	02-10-2024

All four share three traits on their official pages. Each is a Chinese and English document. Each accepts submission by post or in person. Each lists fax as not accepted. None of the pages prints a fee amount or a processing time.

Which form does an adult use inside Hong Kong?

ID 841 is the adult form for applications made in Hong Kong. The page describes it as being for persons 16 years of age or above to apply for an HKSAR passport in Hong Kong, and it is the version dated 16-03-2026, the most recent date among the four forms.

Where to send it is not printed on the form page itself. Both "Mailing Address" and "In Person To" refer you to the contents of Guidance Notes ID(E) 841A, which is published separately and carries the operative addresses.

Which form does a child use inside Hong Kong?

ID 842 covers children under 16 applying in Hong Kong. It runs to three pages and is the largest of the four files at 1.53 MB, mainly because it carries the extra fields a child's application needs. Its guidance notes are ID(E) 842A, again referenced rather than reproduced on the form page.

Nothing on the page describes supporting documents or who must sign. Those details sit in the notes, which is the version-specific document to read alongside whatever download of ID 842 you hold.

Which form applies when applying from outside Hong Kong?

Two forms cover this, split along the same age line.

ID 843 serves persons aged 16 or above residing outside Hong Kong. At two pages and 653 KB it is the shortest of the four.

ID 844 serves children under 16 residing outside Hong Kong. It runs to three pages at 1.03 MB.

Their respective guidance notes are ID(E) 843A and ID(E) 844A. Applicants lodging through Chinese Diplomatic and Consular Missions should read those notes carefully, because the payment form discussed below states a specific exclusion for that route.

Do overseas applicants need a payment form too?

The Department publishes two, and their names describe two different situations.

ID 853, Fee Payment Form for HKSAR Passport (For applications made outside Hong Kong) — five pages, 1.07 MB, dated 05-02-2026.
ID 853A, Fee Payment Form for HKSAR Passport to be collected outside Hong Kong — four pages, 523 KB, dated 21-09-2026. The ID 853A page states the form does not apply to applications submitted via Chinese Diplomatic and Consular Missions (CDCM).

Both pages point back to Guidance Notes ID(E) 843A or ID(E) 844A for where to send them, and both list fax as not applicable. Neither page prints an amount payable, so the sum due has to be confirmed against the Department's current published fees rather than assumed from the form alone.

Where does the completed application go?

None of the four form pages prints an address. Each one answers "Mailing Address" and "In Person To" with a pointer to its guidance notes: ID(E) 841A for an adult applying in Hong Kong, ID(E) 842A for a child applying in Hong Kong, ID(E) 843A for an adult abroad, ID(E) 844A for a child abroad. Fax is not accepted for any of the four.

Use the notes that match the form you have downloaded, since the addresses they carry are the ones attached to that submission. This article is general information about published forms rather than advice on one person's circumstances; for anything turning on your own facts, the guidance notes and the official pages govern, and professional advice is worth getting if the case is unusual.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does a 16-year-old use ID 841 or ID 842?

A person aged 16 or above falls on the ID 841 side when applying in Hong Kong; ID 842 is written for children under 16. The cut-off on both pages is expressed as 16 years of age, not 18. The same line applies abroad, where ID 843 covers people aged 16 or above and ID 844 covers children under 16.

I live in Hong Kong but am travelling abroad this month. Can I use ID 843?

The ID 843 page describes its users as persons residing outside Hong Kong, while ID 841 describes its users as applying in Hong Kong. The form pages do not spell out how the Department treats someone who is only temporarily away. Guidance Notes ID(E) 843A are the place that further detail would sit.

Where do I find the fee for a HKSAR passport?

None of the four application form pages, nor either payment form page, prints a fee amount. Use the Immigration Department's current published fee information for the amount, and check it against the version of the form you download, since form pages carry dates that differ from one another.

Is there a separate form for renewing a passport rather than applying for the first time?

The form pages describe all four forms only by the applicant's age and where they are lodging from. They do not list separate variants for renewal, loss or damage, so the same ID 841, 842, 843 or 844 applies regardless of whether the applicant has held one before.

Are these forms available in English only?

Each of the four is listed on its official page as a Chinese and English version, in one document. No page shows a separate English-only edition, so English-reading applicants complete the bilingual form and use whichever language column applies.

How often do these form pages change, and is this still current?

The dates printed under "Supplementary Notes" differ across the set: 16-03-2026 for ID 841, 05-02-2026 for ID 853, 21-09-2026 for ID 853A, and 2024 dates for ID 842, ID 843 and ID 844. The Department updates these pages over time, so download the form afresh rather than reusing a saved copy.