Govt moving to clear 5000+ passport backlog by next Friday – Pres Ali

– says team to work 24 hours to end long wait time

In light of complaints about long waiting times for passports, President Dr Irfaan Ali has reassured Guyanese that this will be a thing of the past as the Government moves to clear the backlog within a one-week period.
The Head of State made this announcement during a live broadcast on Friday afternoon where he addressed several pressing issues facing citizens.
Currently, there is a backlog of more than 5700 passports for persons both in Guyana and in the diaspora.
Persons seeking a new passport or a renewal have been complaining about the long wait time, as much as three months, to get the important travel document. In some cases, some persons are willing to pay a fee of $26,000 to get back their passports in three days.
However, according to the President, the Government is aware of this challenge and is now putting systems in place to ensure that this figure is reduced within a week’s time.
“We have a backlog of about 5300-plus passports… So, I have brought together the team and they are working now in a concerted way, 24-hour shifts, to have this entire backlog [cleared],” he noted.
The backlog comprised some 5302 outstanding passports within Guyana and another 400-plus applications from the Guyanese diaspora.
“So, that is about just over 5700 passports in the backlog – nationwide and in the diaspora. They are working to completely bring to nil, this backlog by next Friday. So, all things being equal, that is, they don’t have any challenges with the machines and so on, by next Friday, we’re hoping to bring this backlog to a nil position,” President Ali stated.
Moreover, the Guyanese leader also used the opportunity to implore citizens to make use of their regional passport offices in order to further reduce the burden and backlog at the central office.
“What I’ve seen is that people are not utilising the regional offices,” the Head of State pointed out.
In recent years, the Guyana Government has moved to decentralise passport services with the establishment of offices in various regions across the country.
At the Central Passport Office in Georgetown, there are currently over 4000 passports in the backlog. In Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), there are about 900 outstanding passports; at Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice), there are another 900-plus passports; at Anna Regina, Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), there are just over 100 passports; at Parika, Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), there are about 45 passports and at Bartica, Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), there are some five passports in the backlog.
There are also passport offices at Mahdia in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) and at Lethem in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo).
While the Government has now purchased “a lot of passports” back into the system, the backlog was mostly caused by global supply chain issues stemming from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
In fact, the Guyana Police Force, through the Central Immigration and Passport Office, in June 2022 disclosed that its operations have been affected by a delay in the shipment of materials used to print passports.
Then in September 2022, President Ali announced that the Government had ordered some 80,000 new passports to meet both local and diaspora demands.
He told an audience at an event in New York City that the global supply chain crisis had impacted every sector including passport services, especially renewals – and the Guyanese diaspora has been complaining bitterly about the delays.
The Head of State had explained that the materials to print the Guyanese Passport booklet are provided by a leading international company in Canada. However, because of supply chain issues, there are tremendous shortages and delays of the materials needed to produce these documents.
“And whilst there is this shortage – I don’t know why – but the demand for Guyanese Passport has increased by 500 per cent. So, unfortunately, we are being hit with the perfect storm. We are getting hit by a supply chain crisis and a rapid increase in demand for the passport,” Ali said last year.
The President went on to note that, “And every day, the Consulate Office here would call the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and say people cussing [them]… But this is the reality. Since a year and a half ago [in 2021], we ordered, I think, 80,000 passports. We’ve been continuously ordering.”