Renewing an HKSAR passport from overseas in 2026: ID843A, ID844A and where to submit

If you hold Hong Kong permanent resident status and are renewing an HKSAR passport from outside Hong Kong, the note you need depends on the applicant's age alone: ID(C) 843A for anyone 16 years of age or above, and ID(C) 844A for children under 16. That split comes from the Hong Kong Immigration Department's official form pages for the two documents — "Guidance Notes on Application for Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Passport (For persons 16 years of age or above applying outside Hong Kong)" and the matching note for children under 16 — both held in the Forms › Travel Documents section and current as of the October 2026 version of those pages.

Each page offers a Chinese PDF for download and states that an English version exists alongside it: ID(E) 843A and ID(E) 844A respectively. The two pages are otherwise built the same way, with a five-page note, a supplementary notes date and a single enquiry telephone number.

Am I on ID(C) 843A or ID(C) 844A?

The dividing line is the 16th birthday. Everything else — where in the world you live, whether this is a first passport or a renewal — puts you into the overseas pair rather than the in-Hong Kong pair, but it does not change which of the two notes applies.

	ID(C) 843A	ID(C) 844A
Covers	Persons 16 years of age or above applying outside Hong Kong	Children under 16 years of age applying outside Hong Kong
English version	ID(E) 843A also available	ID(E) 844A also available
Length	5 pages	5 pages
PDF file size	2.38 MB	2.45 MB
Supplementary notes date on the page	10 November 2025	10 November 2025
Enquiry telephone number listed	(852) 2824 6111	(852) 2824 6111

A hypothetical helps fix the boundary: suppose the applicant turned 16 last month. They belong on ID(C) 843A, even if a parent prepares and signs most of the paperwork. A child of 15 years and 11 months belongs on ID(C) 844A.

What changes if you file while you are in Hong Kong?

The form numbers change, and so do some details. For applications made inside Hong Kong, the Department publishes ID(C) 841A (English: ID(E) 841A) for applicants 16 or above — six pages, with supplementary notes dated 16 March 2026 — and ID(C) 842A (English: ID(E) 842A) for children under 16, five pages, with supplementary notes dated 10 November 2025.

Keep the two pairs separate. An application started on an overseas note is not the same filing as one made at a Hong Kong counter, and the guidance texts are not interchangeable.

So where does an overseas application actually go?

This is the part that surprises readers, and the honest answer is that the passport pages do not say. On both ID(C) 843A and ID(C) 844A, the "Submission of Completed Forms" table lists mailing address, in-person counter and fax number as "Not Applicable". No Hong Kong mailing address, no overseas office and no fax number appear anywhere on those two pages for the completed application. The contact details shown are the enquiry telephone number (852) 2824 6111 and the address enquiry@immd.gov.hk.

The Chinese diplomatic channel does appear elsewhere in the same official form set, but attached to a different travel document. The Document of Identity for Visa Purposes notes — ID(C) 437 for applicants 16 or above (English: ID(E) 437) and ID(C) 437A for children under 16 (English: ID(E) 437A) — divide their submission table into "In Hong Kong" and "Overseas / In the Mainland", and for the overseas/Mainland column they state the following:

In person, completed forms go to a Chinese Diplomatic and Consular Mission / Mainland Offices.
By mail, completed forms go to the Travel Documents and Nationality (Application) Section, Immigration Department, 2nd Floor, Administration Tower, Immigration Headquarters, 61 Po Yap Road, Tseung Kwan O, New Territories.
Fax is not accepted.

Read those two things together and the conclusion to draw back is a narrow one: that is what the Document of Identity pages say, about the Document of Identity for Visa Purposes. The overseas passport pages do not name a Chinese diplomatic or consular mission at all. Carrying the Document of Identity channel across to a passport application would be an inference, not a published rule, and the guidance notes you download are the text that governs your filing.

Evidence that each document keeps its own rules sits further down the same forms list. The HKSAR Re-entry Permit forms ID(E) 73 (16 or above) and ID(E) 73A (under 16), which cover travel to the Mainland and Macao, use a third configuration: mail goes to the Documents Management Section, 2nd Floor, Tuen Mun Siu Lun Government Complex, 19 Siu Lun Street, Tuen Mun, New Territories for Hong Kong applications, while mail is "Not Accepted" for Mainland applications, where the in-person route is Mainland Offices. Their supplementary notes carry the date 9 April 2026.

This article summarises published government pages for general reference only. It is not advice on any individual case, it does not predict an outcome, and practices and official publications can change — check the current official announcement and the guidance note itself for your situation.

Frequently Asked Questions

I'm 16 or older and living abroad. Which guidance note applies to my renewal?

Use ID(C) 843A, the Hong Kong Immigration Department's guidance note for persons 16 years of age or above applying outside Hong Kong, as listed on the Department's Forms › Travel Documents pages as of October 2026. If you prefer English, the corresponding version is ID(E) 843A. The note runs five pages and carries supplementary notes dated 10 November 2025.

My child is 12. Different form?

Yes — children under 16 applying outside Hong Kong fall under ID(C) 844A, with ID(E) 844A as the English version. The page is labelled for "children under 16 years of age applying outside Hong Kong", is five pages, and shows the same supplementary notes date of 10 November 2025 as the adult note.

Is there an English version of these notes?

Both pages state that an English version exists alongside the downloadable Chinese file: ID(E) 843A for the adult overseas note and ID(E) 844A for the children's overseas note. If you are working through a Chinese-speaking post, you may still be handed the Chinese form, so it is worth asking for the version you can read.

Do the official pages give a mailing address for overseas passport applications?

No. On ID(C) 843A and ID(C) 844A, mailing address, in-person counter and fax are all marked "Not Applicable" for completed forms. The pages publish only the enquiry telephone number (852) 2824 6111 and enquiry@immd.gov.hk, so the note you download is the document to follow for submission instructions.

Why do people talk about applying through a Chinese embassy or consulate?

Because that wording does appear in the Department's form set — on the Document of Identity pages ID(C) 437 and ID(C) 437A, which list "Chinese Diplomatic and Consular Mission / Mainland Offices" as the in-person route for Overseas / In the Mainland applications. Those pages cover the HKSAR Document of Identity for Visa Purposes, not the passport, so treat the two as separate documents with separate published channels.

Are fax submissions accepted for any of these forms?

Not as far as the pages show. Fax is listed as "Not Applicable" on the two overseas passport notes and as "Not Accepted" in both columns of the Document of Identity tables and both columns of the re-entry permit tables.

Anything dated 2026 I should be aware of?

The dates vary across the set, which is itself worth knowing. The overseas passport pair and the under-16 in-Hong Kong note carry supplementary notes dated 10 November 2025; ID(C) 841A carries 16 March 2026; the two re-entry permit forms carry 9 April 2026. Those are the dates printed on the pages consulted in October 2026, and the current version remains whatever the Immigration Department publishes.