Indian passport holders do not need a visa for Hong Kong. As of September 2026 you need a Pre-arrival Registration (PAR): a free, ten-minute online form on the Immigration Department's site that is approved instantly for most applicants. Print the notification slip on A4, carry it with your passport, and it is valid for six months of multiple visits, each up to 14 days. There is no fee. The only cost to plan for is the ₹2,600 (HKD 230) full visa you would need if PAR is refused, so register before you buy a non-refundable ticket.
How PAR works
- Go to immd.gov.hk and open "Pre-arrival Registration for Indian Nationals" (the official page). The form takes about ten minutes and costs nothing.
- Approval is immediate for most people. Print the notification slip on A4; a screenshot is not the same thing at the counter.
- The slip is valid for six months, for multiple visits of up to 14 days each.
Your passport needs six months' validity and one blank page. Immigration almost always asks for the return ticket and hotel booking, so have them on your phone.
If PAR is refused
A refusal is not a ban; it means you need the ordinary entry visa. That costs HKD 230 (₹2,600), takes about four weeks through the Immigration Department, and needs a local sponsor or employer. Four weeks is the number to plan around: register for PAR the day you start pricing flights, not the week before you fly. The same visa is the route for any stay over 14 days, and for work or study.
The Macau loop, and what it does to your PAR
Macau gives Indians 30 days visa-free with no registration at all, and until 31 December 2026 the Macau government also pays for the bus there. The Fly you to Macao offer gives foreign passport holders landing at Hong Kong airport a free one-way coach from the airport's restricted area over the bridge to the Macau Port, normally ₹3,200 (HKD 280). You never clear Hong Kong immigration, so it does not touch your PAR. Book at macauhkairportbus.com, carry the boarding pass stub from a flight that landed that day, sign the declaration at counters 38 to 40 in the E2 transfer area, and check in 60 minutes before departure if you have luggage. Coaches run 8:30am to 9:30pm, about every 30 minutes, 45 minutes over the bridge.
So do Macau first. Land, take the free coach, then cross into Hong Kong by shuttle or ferry, which uses one PAR visit of up to 14 days, the only one you spend. The old loop, Hong Kong then Macau then Hong Kong, still works, but re-entering from Macau starts a second 14-day visit on the same slip, and the registration must still be inside its six months.
Already in Hong Kong? The public HZMB shuttle from the Hong Kong Port is HKD 65 (about ₹750) by day, HKD 70 after midnight, 24 hours, every 5 to 15 minutes; bus B4 reaches the port from the airport in 10 minutes for about HKD 10. The ferry from Sheung Wan or Kowloon is HKD 175 (about ₹1,950).
Register for PAR before you book. It is free and instant, and if it comes back refused you have four weeks and ₹2,600 to plan for instead of a lost fare.
Getting in from the airport
The Airport Express reaches Hong Kong station in 24 minutes for HKD 115 (₹1,300) and Kowloon for HKD 105, with free in-town check-in the next morning; buy the two-for-one group ticket at the counter if you are travelling as a pair. Bus A21 is the value option at HKD 33 to 40 (about ₹380), an hour down Nathan Road past every Tsim Sha Tsui hotel. A red taxi to Tsim Sha Tsui is HKD 280 to 320 (about ₹3,400) plus HKD 6 a bag. Ignore anyone offering a "private car" in arrivals; the taxi rank is outside Hall A.
What it costs once you are in
Victoria Peak is from ₹1,700 and Ngong Ping 360 with the Big Buddha from ₹2,300; the Hong Kong guide prices the rest and the Victoria Peak and Ngong Ping 360 pages have the timings. Watch for the "monks" in Tsim Sha Tsui pressing a bracelet on you and then demanding a donation. Decline and keep walking. Late at night, a taxi refusing the meter is the other one: ask for "meter" or use HKTaxi or Uber.
What to do now
- Register for PAR at immd.gov.hk today, before flights, and print the slip on A4.
- Check the passport: six months' validity and one blank page.
- If refused, apply for the HKD 230 entry visa with a sponsor and give it four weeks.