The government announced yesterday that the Government Services Centre in Areia Preta district will remain open every Saturday and Sunday for eligible local residents to submit their applications to be granted exemptions from the 183-day minimum stay requirement to benefit from the government’s 2025 wealth-sharing programme.
The Government Information Bureau (GCS) announced the measure, which will take effect tomorrow, in a statement yesterday.
The same as the opening hours from Monday to Friday, the counters receiving applications for exemptions from the 183-day minimum stay requirement at the Government Services Centre in Areia Preta district will be open between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday, without a lunch break, according to the statement.
The government did not say for how long the measure will be in place.
In addition to the Government Services Centre in Areia Preta, four other service centres are receiving applications for the exemptions, comprising the Integrated Services Centre in the China Plaza office building in Nam Van district, the Central District Public Services Centre on Rotunda de Carlos da Maia (popularly known as “Three Lamps”), the Government Services Centre in Taipa, and the Islands District Public Services Centre in Coloane’s Seac Pai Van public housing estate.
The other four service centres will remain open from Monday to Friday between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. as the weekend service will only be implemented at the Government Services Centre in Areia Preta.
Yesterday’s statement also reaffirmed that the application period is running until December 31, 2028, urging residents not to rush to submit their applications at any of the five service centres.
About 4,900 local residents submitted their applications for the exemptions on Wednesday, as of 6 p.m. that day, the first day of the application period, comprising about 3,720 residents who submitted their applications via the Macao One Account e-government app and about 1,180 residents who submitted their applications in person at the five service centres, according to a GCS statement on Wednesday evening.
Of the five service centres, the Government Services Centre in Areia Preta received the highest number of applications on the first day of the application period.
Yesterday’s GCS statement also said that as of noon yesterday, about 1,300 local residents had submitted their applications for the exemptions yesterday, via the Macao One Account e-government app or in the five service centres.
Yesterday’s statement said that the new measure aims to enable those who wish to submit their applications by visiting a service centre but are unable to do so on weekdays due to work or other commitments to file their submissions in written application forms on a Saturday or Sunday.
Local residents submit their applications for exemptions from the 183-day minimum stay requirement to benefit from the government’s 2025 wealth-sharing programme at the Government Services Centre in Areia Preta on Wednesday. – Photo: GCS
