By Sorie Ibrahim Fofanah
Speaking about the decentralization of the application process regarding Sierra Leone’s Passport, the Chief Immigration Officer, Alusine Kanneh has said application would be done in the provinces, naming Bo, Kenema, and Makeni as venues for such an exercise.
Kanneh made this disclosure at the government's weekly press briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Freetown on the 5th of March this year.
To ease the challenges faced by applicants for passport up country who have to come to the city to apply, he stated that they would have immigration offices in the three cities where the process will be done.
In a bid to ease the current complex process of applying for passports, the Chief Immigration Officer said the process would be digitalized.
He further noted that there would also be passport registration centers in Washington DC in the United States of America and the United Kingdom for Sierra Leoneans staying abroad to do their passport application, whilst stating also that proxy application for those staying outside Sierra Leone will no longer be tolerated.
As a way to ensure proper scrutiny in the issuance of Sierra Leonean passports, the Chief Immigration Officer said applicants are now interviewed.
He said Foreigners don't want to do biometric registration at the immigration department, and prefer to have it done at their "convenience”. He insisted that applicants can't do their application process for passport if they don't have the National Identification Number (NIN).
He said the eight hundred crossing border points have been tightened and they now have knowledge about people exiting or entering the country through the Sierra Leone-Guinea and Sierra Leone-Liberia borders, adding that they would have to target the Lungi International Airport.
The Chief Immigration Officer said they work with the International Migration Organization (IMO) and Interpol to ensure safety relating to migration security.
Speaking about the passport prices, the Chief Immigration Officer stated that two million, three hundred old Leones is the official price for the passports, noting that they are working on making the service better.
Recalling when he took over office, Kanneh noted that there was overcrowding at the immigration office, and difficulties in registration for passports.
He went on to say there were lots of volunteers at the immigration, whom he said were illegally soliciting monies from passport applicants . However, Kanneh said he engaged them to give up their work at the immigration department, and they heeded and left.
He said there is no queue of applicants at the venue, and that all the traders have been removed to ensure there is no overcrowding at the department.
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