Sri Lanka’s Immigration and Emigration Department has announced the introduction of a new system for obtaining passports, following the discontinuation of the recently introduced online registration system.
In a notice issued by the department, it was stated that as of Friday, August 23, registering online to apply for passports is no longer necessary. Under the new system, the department will issue 400 passports per day through the one-day service and 250 passports per day through the normal service, based on the order of arrival at the Immigration Department.
Additionally, the department advised that individuals with valid passports containing blank pages can continue using their existing passports until the e-passport system is implemented in the near future.
Sri Lanka launched the online passport application system in June 2023 via 51 Divisional Secretariats as part of the government’s digitalization initiative. The system allowed people to obtain passports within three days for Rs 15,000 and within 14 days for Rs 5,000. However, the online system encountered several issues and ultimately failed.
When the online system was launched, the Immigration Department managed to issue only 3,700 passports out of the 35,000 applications submitted. Persistent problems have led to delays and long queues at the Immigration Department, with many Sri Lankans seeking passports primarily for overseas employment.
The most pressing issue currently is a shortage of passport books, which has significantly hindered the issuance process. Earlier this month, Public Security Minister Tiran Alles urged the public to delay applying for passports until October, advising that only those with urgent needs should apply. The minister also revealed that new e-passports, which meet international standards and feature enhanced security measures, will be available in October.
The delay in issuing new passports has been attributed to setbacks in finalizing the tender process for the new passports. Despite the daily demand to issue around 3,000 passports, only 900 are currently being processed. However, the department has made provisions to issue around 100 passports daily for extremely urgent cases.
Source – newswire.lk
