News
4,500 passports to be issued daily, 24 hours a day
The government is planning to increase the number of new passports issued daily to 4,500 starting from mid-month.
Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala expressed confidence that the Department of Immigration and Emigration (DIE) would be able to start issuing 4,500 passports on a daily basis from the week beginning February 17. Preparations are being made for the DIE to start issuing passports 24 hours a day from that week, he revealed.
Given the complicated nature of the court case surrounding the e-passport tender, however, Minister Wijepala told the Sunday Times the government would first have to seek the Attorney General’s opinion on the matter, while the AG’s Department and the company involved in supplying the passports must also reach an agreement.
The minister conceded that the DIE did not currently possess the necessary human resources to issue passports 24 hours a day. Cabinet approval has already been made to recruit 21 assistant commissioners on a six-month basis as part of bolstering the department’s numbers.
Officers of other arms of the public service are also to be temporarily assigned to the DIE to fill other vacancies. “We are planning for three eight-hour shifts to issue passports,” Minister Wijepala added.
An advertisement is also to be published in the media next week inviting recently retired staff members of the DIE to rejoin the department on a contract basis.
The DIE had earlier been issuing 1,200 passports on a daily basis before this was doubled to 2,500. This, however, led to longer queues. “There is the possibility that queues could become longer owing to increasing the number of passports to 4,500. We are trying to issue passports 24 hours a day to minimise that,” said the minister.
At present, passports are being issued from seven counters at the DIE. All seven counters, though, may not be working towards nighttime, the minister noted. The government is further planning to order a buffer stock of passports that will last three months.
Minister Wijepala also revealed that the DIE would open a passport office in Jaffna this month for the convenience of the public.
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