Thursday Feb 06, 2025
Thursday Feb 06, 2025
Thursday, 6 February 2025 05:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
In response to the ongoing shortage of passports, the Government yesterday announced that it decided to launch an urgent initiative to boost the passport issuance process by 4,000 daily through a 24-hour operational monitoring system and recruiting additional staff on contract basis to eliminate delays.
To support this accelerated process, the Cabinet of Ministers on Monday approved the recruitment of additional staff.
“The Department of Immigration (DIE) has devised a comprehensive plan to issue 4,000 passports daily and this effort includes implementing a 24-hour operational monitoring system to ensure efficiency and minimise backlogs,” Cabinet Spokesman and Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa said at the weekly post-Cabinet meeting media briefing yesterday.
He said retired officers from the DIE will be rehired on a contract basis with the approval of the Public Service Commission. “In addition, public sector employees from other departments and development officers will also be temporarily hired to assist with the consent of the Public Administration Ministry,” he added.
The move comes amid Government addressing the shortage of passports due to an impediment in the ordering method along with cancelling the previous administration’s procurement process based on a Court order.
Following the recommendations of the intellects committee appointed by the Cabinet of Ministers, the procurement process is already underway to secure 1.1 million new “P” category chip-embedded passports from the supplier.
“With thousands of applicants facing delays, this initiative aims to provide much-needed relief to those awaiting passports,” Dr. Jayatissa added.
On 23 January, Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananda Wijepala affirmed that around 2,900 passports are issued daily at present, exceeding the planned capacity of 2,500 — largely due to the volume of urgent requests.
