Thanks to ongoing government service reforms, residents in Jilin province can now get their passports and Exit-Entry permits for travelling to and from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan issued within four days after application.

Officials provide passport services to Jilin residents at a service hall in Jilin province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Nearly 97,000 passports and Exit-Entry permits have been issued in no more than four days since the "one-stop service" reform began being offered this year, according to the Exit-Entry Administration of the Public Security Bureau of Jilin province.

In order to provide a more comprehensive service to the public, the administration took action on a series of measures to deal with the problems and complaints that people had made during the application process. Information on working hours, required documents, and center locations are now provided in service halls and online. Applicants can now find out which service center is the closest to them and follow the progress of their applications on the official Wechat account of the Jilin government.

An official provides guidance to an applicant in front of a self-service machine at an Exit-Entry service hall in Jilin province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Officials in the service halls are now required to provide consultation services to residents, so as to make sure that their applications can be settled within 30 minutes. The high technology that has been introduced to the Exit-Entry service system has also assisted in the storage and organization of the massive amounts of information they receive and has also improved overall efficiency. Passports are now made with a new labor-saving equipment, which accelerates the time in which they can be issued.

"I used to think that I had to go through a lot of red tape to apply for my passport. But today I was amazed by how I got my passport only ten minutes after applying for it. The new 'one-stop service' is certainly true to its name!" said Li, a Jilin resident.

Officials at the Exit-Entry halls are required to provide consultation services to the public in Jilin province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]