by Georgina Maka’a
Immigration authority say $10 million allocated in this year’s budget for the purchase of passport books have all been spent.
This is why they were unable to purchase new passports after their stock ran out more than three months ago.
“The $10 million budget for this year has run out,” acting Director of Immigration Chris Akosawa told In-depth Solomons today.
“We need an additional $3 million to procure another 2,500 passports to meet the demand before the end of this year,” Akosawa added.
That $3 million, according to Akosawa, is money the Immigration currently does not have
He said they’ve made a request to the Ministry of Commerce Industry, Labour and, Immigration but were told they have to try and source that within their ministry if they can.
The situation has affected thousands of Solomon Islanders who wanted to get passports.
Right now, those who need to travel abroad for urgent matters are issued with temporary Certificates of Identity.
But this is only possible for those traveling within the Pacific region, including Australia and New Zealand. Those traveling beyond will have to wait.
Akosawa said the situation however, does not affect those applying for official and diplomatic passports.
“We are still issuing official and diplomatic passports,” he said.
One Solomon Islander who cannot travel abroad due to his expired passport blamed the government for the situation.
“I find this issue denies my right to travel, especially outside of the Pacific Region. It’s not my fault that I can’t travel because the passport books have run out,” he said.
The man, who asked not to be named, said this is a serious situation and any responsible government should respond appropriately by allocating funds.
Akosawa was hoping they could secure the $3 million to get the passport books into the country before the end of the year.
He said procuring the books is not an issue.
“If we have the funds, we can get the books into Honiara within a short span of time,” he said.
Solomon Islands passports are procured from Malaysia’s IRIS Corporation, who won the bid in 2015 to supply ePassports for the country.
To avoid similar shortages in the New Year, Akosawa said they’ve increased their bid in next year’s budget to $15 million.
He said this budget increase should be sufficient to cover the passport needs of the country in 2025.
Immigration this year opened two provincial passport outlets in Noro, Western Province, and Auki, Malaita.
Akosawa said similar outlets will be opened in Taro, Choiseul, and Lata, Temotu, next year.
“We are also extending our passport services to our nationals living abroad.
“We are currently providing service in Brisbane and Suva, and we hope to open offices in Papua New Guinea, the United Arab Emirates, or in Brussels.”
Akosawa said the high number of shortfalls this year was due to an increase in the number of citizens traveling abroad, especially for seasonal work in Australia and New Zealand.
Meanwhile, he urged applicants from 2018 and 2019 to visit the Immigration Office to collect their passports, saying there are approximately 400 to 500 uncollected passports.