FOREIGN Affairs Minister Darren Henfield says that although the Passport Office has some challenges, help is on the way. During his 2019/2020 Budget contribution, the Minister said that the Passport Office has always been challenged with providing services in a building with inadequate space.
“The influx of renewal applications due to the tenth year anniversary of the first e-Passports coupled with new applicants and persons now renewing their manual passports have compounded the challenges faced,” he said. “Despite the challenges, staff at the Passport Office remain committed in executing their tasks in an expeditious manner to meet public demand.”
He said to counter the challenges, there are continuing improvements to the e-Passport system. He said that the Canadian Bank Note (CBN) Company Limited, a leading company in secure technology solutions, was contracted to upgrade the country’s existing e-Passport system.
“In October 2018, CBN conducted the user acceptance test at the Passport Office in conjunction with the Treasury to identify challenges that may exist or arise when using the system and to assess the online direct payment process,” said Minister Henfield. He said concerns and issues observed during the testing were addressed by CBN.
He noted that testing of the electron application process for renewal of adult e-Passports started on May 13, 2019.
“It is anticipated that the public’s utilisation of the electronic application for e-Passport renewal would alleviate some of the overcrowding currently occurring at the Passport Office.
Another issue, which plagues the office, is the timely collection of completed passports. He said that as of May 22 this year 1,277 passports had not been collected.
To reduce the large crowds at the passport office, plans are underway to install e-Pics systems, which are kiosks to be placed in strategic locations in New Providence and Grand Bahama. “The installation of these systems will allow persons to complete and submit electronic applications for passport renewals without having to visit the Passport Office. It is anticipated that utilisation of the kiosks will significantly decrease the current overcrowding at the Passport Office.”
The government also plans to install e-Pics systems in four family islands – Exuma, Central Eleuthera, Inagua and Long Island.
Comments
geostorm 5 years, 4 months ago
Yes, please fix this issue. It's ridiculous that renewing a Bahamian passport is so tedious. In addition to this, there should be an appointment system, similar to the way the US Embassy works. As for pick ups, include a delivery fee in the overall cost. Ship the passports to an off site location. People do this all the time when applying for US visas, use that same concept. Come on Mr. Minister, get this right! It's not rocket science!
K4C 5 years, 4 months ago
This is what happens when a country is mired with a 3rd world mentality, living in another country myself, to renew my passport, yes I am now a citizen of that country takes a visit to a passport centre, presenting the applicable documents, on a Monday morning my wait was about 45 minutes and by Friday of that same week, the 10 year passport was delivered to my home, by registered post, there is a huge difference between 1st world and 3rd world countries.
TheMadHatter 5 years, 4 months ago
Yes, help is on the way. His name is Jesus. However, He will not require a passport from any of us to travel with Him.
Clamshell 5 years, 4 months ago
In the Bahamas, help is always “on the way” ... it just never seems to arrive.
Well_mudda_take_sic 5 years, 4 months ago
LMAO. Most Bahamians are only now waking up to the fact that their elected officials have no means of helping them. Our country is controlled by a grossly over-bloated civil work force that our elected officials do not even have the power to significantly downsize. At best they can only shuffle the incompetent civil servants around without any means of firing them because of their incompetency. And this is why whether we have a PLP or FNM lead government really makes no difference. Our elected officials, like Henfield, are only good for one thing: Blowing lots of hot air while feathering their own nests at the expense of honest and hardworking taxpayers.
bogart 5 years, 4 months ago
...IF DA MINISTER REPEATEDLY FAILS..REPEATEDLY PASSPORT OFFICE FUNCTIONS........HE SHOULD STEP DOWN.......simple !!!!.....KEEPING holding on repeating years of failure is an insult to intelligence to even yours truly d grade grade uneducated .....
John 5 years, 4 months ago
The percentage of Bahamians that hold passports, compared even to countries like the US and Canada is very high. And that is because Bahamians, in general, are more travelled than the average individual in these countries and also because passports in this country are use more frequently as a source of identification, even in situations that don’t involve travel. And yes working in cramped, limited space does present challenges and causes a reduction in productivity and efficiency. Besides the initiatives it already is putting in place to polish the brass, the passport office may seek to promote a 10 year passport as opposed to 5 years. This will put more distance between visits by individuals and give the office less customer loads and more opportunity to catch up and to upgrade. And it is now time for Grand Bahama, Abaco, Eleuthera and Exuma to have their own satellite passport offices.
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