Measures to streamline procedures for passport application for residents in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region have been welcomed by the local applicants.
Xinjiang authorities announced in early August they would simplify the paperwork and speed up procedures for those who apply for a passport under the category of visiting [a family member or friend overseas], business, tourism and education.
Getting a passport is often complicated and takes more time in Xinjiang than in other provinces, given the rising threat of terrorism in the region and the government's ongoing anti-terrorism campaign.
Turgunjan Tursun, a research fellow at the Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that legitimate rights of ordinary Xinjiang residents should not be hindered by the presence of a small number of terrorists.
More than 2,000 residents in Southern Xinjiang's Hotan prefecture have applied for a passport in two weeks, according to a report published on people.cn on Friday.
Before the new policy was applied to the whole of Xinjiang, it was piloted in three areas, Shihezi, Karamay and Kizilsu Kirghiz Autonomous Prefecture, since May.
Residents in these areas who obtain a passport under tourism category can keep the passport in their personal possession, reported Xinjiang-based news website iyaxin.com on Saturday.
In the past, passports under tourism category were required to be handed to the local tourism bureaus upon return home, while those obtain for business or family visit purposes needed to be kept with the local police, Tursun said.
Local departments in the three pilot areas accepted applications from 23,000 residents between May 25 and July 25, five times more than the same period last year.
The average processing time in Xinjiang is 15 days after the implementation of the new policy, while in Beijing it is eight to 10 days.
Those who exit the country illegally or stay and work abroad illegally and are repatriated consequently are not qualified to obtain a passport for up to three years after repatriation, according to a guideline issued on August 19 on the website of the Public Security Bureau of Xinjiang.
Tursun believed that such rules, if implemented properly, might help prevent Xinjiang separatists from participating in terrorist activities overseas.
