7 News Belize

What’s Causing Passport Backlogs?
posted (February 25, 2020)
There's a backlog at the Immigration Department in processing passports, and it's causing lots of headaches and heartaches for folks who can't get their travel documents "to time."

Yesterday we asked the Minister of State for Immigration Beverly Williams what's causing it, and what's the solution:...

Beverly Williams - Minister of State for Immigration
"Indeed I will acknowledge that there is a backlog in the system of passports. We had permission to do some over time work to try and clear it out because we anticipate a rush for the Easter break and so we are trying to clear out the passports that are in there. But it is something that hopefully we can maintain after we clear the backlog because it is a failing system, it is an aging system. The capacity is not there, it is a system from 2005. A new system is costly so we are looking for funding, in terms of implementing a new e-passport system. One with the highest levels of security, one that will last us for a minimum of maybe about 20 years."

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7 News Belize