Damascus-SANA
The Director of the Immigration and Passports Department, Major General Khaled Salim Hadid, revealed to SANA that a quantity of raw materials required for passport printing has arrived in a short period, which will contribute to doubling the number of passports granted to citizens.
Major General Hadid said, "As a result of the increase in the demand for passports and the number of reviewers for immigration and passport branches, new work mechanisms have been put in place after completing the accumulation that occurred as a result of the lack of supplied raw materials."
Hadid indicated that with the aim of controlling the process of obtaining passports and preventing brokers and transaction trackers from exploiting and extorting citizens financially, patrols are conducted from the investigation branch to the Damascus and its countryside branches and the branches of the central administration, pointing out that as a result of the constant monitoring and follow-up by the investigation branch and the daily arrest of people trying to exploit People are getting very few exploitation attempts.
On the work of the electronic platform for reservation, Hadid explained that during the day it accepts specific numbers of up to 2,000 people for the regular role, while the number of passports issued per month reaches approximately 40,000 passports.
Hadid pointed out that a number of people entered the platform and tried to hack it, to detain people in exchange for a financial benefit that amounted to 300,000 pounds per reservation, and four of them were arrested and brought to court.
Hadid confirmed the granting of urgent or immediate passports without the need to register on the platform for those inside Syria, within certain priorities, “residents outside the country, students who have proof of this, and sick cases, in addition to the delegated employee.”
Hadid pointed out that the material cost of the ordinary passport is up to 50 thousand pounds for those inside the country in addition to the fees added in the commercial bank, while the cost for the urgent passport is 75 thousand pounds in addition to the fees added in the bank and 300 dollars for the ordinary passport for those outside the country and 800 dollars for urgent travel.
The number of passports issued during 2021 reached 888,274, and the number of passports issued since the beginning of this year until March 31 is 140,000.
Mada Alloush and Imran Issa
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