Immigration suspends processing of new international passports

The Comptroller General of Immigration Service, Muhammad Babandede, has ordered the suspension and processing of new applications for international Passports.

He ordered the suspension during the decoration of 87 senior officers of the service promoted recently by the Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire and Immigration Board (CDCFIB).

He said the suspension would last until June 1st when the backlogs of applications would have been cleared.

It was learnt that a total of 30 Comptroller of Immigration Service CIS were promoted to the rank of Assistant Comptroller-General while 57 Deputy Comptroller of Immigration were promoted to the rank of Comptroller.

A statement from the Service Public Relations Officer, Sunday James noted that the number of other officers promoted within the same period was 2071.

During the decoration of the 30 ACGs and 57 Comptrollers, the Comptroller General of Immigration Service, Muhammad Babandede, congratulated the affected officers and urged them to exhibit a high sense of professionalism and commitment to duty, James said.

James said: “The CGI used the opportunity to announce the suspension of receiving and processing of all fresh Passport applications nationwide till 1st June 2021, when the new Passport regime would have taken effect. ”

He explained that the “suspension of receiving and processing of fresh passport applications, is to allow for clearance of every Passport application that was received before 17th of May 2021, adding that a Task Force supervised by ACGs, will be sent to Passport offices to clear the backlog.”

Babandede further stated that the new passport regime is expected to commence on the 1st of June 2021, for a delivery period of 6 weeks from the date of submission of applications if there is no local objection.