Hundreds of thousands of applicants awaiting passports

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Central Passport Office issues 4,000 passports daily, but still hundreds of thousands applicants have to wait for months for their turn to go through the actual process of getting the document.

First, an applicant fills an online form that provides him with the exact date and time to appear in the Passport Office for the actual process of registration and biometrics.

Naseer Ahmad Ahmad, in-charge of a private office who fills online passport forms for applicants, said until March this year the passport office would respond in two or three days after filling the application form and would provide date and time for the applicant to appear in the office.

He, however, said after March the applications he filled had not been responded by the passport office to determine the time for applicants to appear in the passport office.

Ahmad Shah Saleem, an individual who applied for the passport, said he filled online application form for passport two and a half months ago but he did not receive any response.

He said in initial days he regularly checked the website and he was told that his turn would come soon and had to wait but his wait did not end and he was still waiting.

Saleem said he wanted to go to Iran but was waiting for his passport and still it was not determined that when he would be able to get the passport.

Fazal Rabi, another applicant, said he applied for the passport on May 22 but still he was not called to the passport office for registration and biometrics.

Passport Office Spokesperson NoorullahPatman told Pajhwok Afghan News hundreds of individuals had applied online for passports. He said 4,000 passports were issued daily and among them 2,000 were those who had applied online.

He said until September the time for registration and other procedure will not be defined for individuals who had applied.

He said new applications would be considered once the previous applications were addressed.

nh/ma

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