Hong Kong Certificate of Identity Hong Kong Certificate of Identity The Hong Kong Certificate of Identity (CI; ) was a formal travel document and passport, issued by the Hong Kong Government's Immigration Department until June 30, 1997 (See transfer of the sovereignty of Hong Kong). It is no longer possible to possess a valid CI as a travel document, as all CIs have expired by 30 June 2007, though most CI holders should be eligible to hold the HKSAR Passport. Certificates of Identity were issued to Hong Kong permanent residents who did not hold and could not obtain any valid travel documents for overseas travel.
British Hong Kong Empire. In 1861, Governor Sir Hercules Robinson introduced the Hong Kong Cadetship, which recruited young graduates from Britain to learn Cantonese and written Chinese for two years, before deploying them on a fast track to the Civil Service. Cadet officers gradually formed the backbone of the civil administration. After the Second World War, ethnic Chinese were allowed into the service, followed by women. Cadets were renamed Administrative Officers in the 1950s, and they remained the elite of the Civil Service during British rule. The stability, security, and predictability of British law and government enabled Hong Kong to flourish as a