Macau, China, Jan. 23, 2026 (Lusa) - The Macau Government has announced that nationals from 82 countries, including Portugal, Brazil and Cabo Verde, will be able to use automatic electronic channels to enter mainland China via the world's longest bridge over the sea.
The measure will take effect on Monday at the border connecting Macao to the neighbouring city of Zhuhai, part of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, and will cover all citizens of the 82 countries exempt from entry visas to the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.
According to a joint statement by the Macau Security Forces and Public Security Police (PSP) Services Directorate, foreigners aged 7 years or older will also have to be permanent residents of mainland China and have a valid residence permit or visa.
At the end of April, the then Secretary for Security of Macao announced plans to speed up border control of foreign visitors without resident status or work permits through the use of automatic electronic channels.
The authorities will expand self-service equipment for the Biometric Data Collection System, which will now apply to all foreign visitors, Wong Sio Chak explained.
The secretary added that the Government will study the extension of iris recognition technology at border controls to non-residents by 2025.
"We are also studying ways to expand the number of users eligible for automatic passage channels, allowing more foreign tourists to benefit from faster immigration processes and smoother movement in the Greater Bay Area," Wong said.
The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area is a Beijing project to integrate the two territories of Hong Kong and Macau and nine cities in Guangdong province in a region with more than 86 million inhabitants and an economy worth more than €1 trillion in 2023.
From June onwards, nationals from 82 countries, including Portugal, Brazil and Cabo Verde, started being able to enter Macao via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge without having to leave their vehicles.
The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, the world's longest sea crossing, has recorded more than 100 million passenger crossings since its inauguration in October 2018, the Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported on 6 January.
Construction of the bridge began in 2009 but was affected by delays, the deaths of more than 20 workers and budget overruns. The final cost of the infrastructure is estimated at US$16.4 billion (€14.4 billion), 25% more than initially planned.
The bridge, which opened in 2018, is approximately 55 kilometres long and includes an underground tunnel of almost seven kilometres between two artificial islands to facilitate navigation in the Pearl River Delta.
The infrastructure has reduced the travel time between Macao and Hong Kong by about half.
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