ECONOMYNEXT — Newly appointed Public Security Minister Vijitha Herath has said efforts are under way to resolve Sri Lanka’s ongoing passport crisis by October 15-20, though the Department of Immigration and Emigration had already said in August that new passports would arrive by end-October.
Speaking to ministry officials and the media after assuming duties on Tuesday September 24, Herath said queues for new passports has been one of the biggest issues in the country.
“We will make maximum effort to resolve it quickly. We have already discussed the matter with the director. He believes the queue can be ended by October 15-20 and new passports can be issued. We hope to do that by then somehow,” he said.
“We have also instructed him to propose alternatives to the current queue situation. There are some efforts being made on his side. In the short term, let’s try to go for an alternative solution,” he said.
In August, weeks before a crucial presidential election, the government’s failure in supplying an adequate number of passports led to a long queue similar to what the island nation had seen during the financial crisis in 2022.
The queue outside the Department of Immigration and Emigration came after the authorities ran out of new passport books amid higher demand for the document that people needed to leave the country.
“There is a deficiency. I apologise on behalf of the government. It happened because. We have migrated to a new electronic passport system,” then Foreign Minister Ali Sabry told reporters on August 28.
“According the order we placed, we will get the new passports from October 16. Until then, we will have to manage with what we have. I agree that we could have kept a large number of blank passport books and managed this better. I also accept that this should not have happened.”
The Department of Immigration and Emigration in a statement on August 26 said it had limited the number of blank passports available at the moment and has had to limit the issuance of passports.
“The government has taken the initiative to introduce new digital passports, and for that purpose, it has already invited international bidders to a foreign company,” it said, adding that the tender had been already awarded.
The Department of Immigration and Emigration said that taking into account the limited number of empty passports, it has made plans to provide the 50,000 units of blank passports from the foreign firm that has been awarded the tender to issue the new electronic passports.
“Both passports are expected to be available on the island by the end of October or later.”
The Department also said that out of the total number of passports issued in the last year, only 23 percent of the new passport holders traveled abroad and urged the public to get their passport only if it is essential to travel abroad. (Colombo/Sep25/2024)