Zimbabwe claims passport backlog is eliminated with 600K issued since January 2022

Zimbabwe has issued more than 600,000 passports holding the bearer’s biometrics on an electronic chip, Bulawyo24 reports, clearing a backlog which previous reports trace back as far as 2018.

The new passports are printed by Garsu Pasaulis with technology from Semlex, and their issuance began in Harare in January, 2022.

The launch of passport offices across the country since is credited in part with enabling faster issuance, with offices opened in 6 provincial centers, including Murehwa and Chitungwiza. Offices in Chipinge and Mwenezi are also slated to open this year. The article quotes multiple individuals as telling ZBC News that passport applications have been accelerated, and issuance is now taking a week in some cases.

The same outlet, however, reported in April that service at the Bulawayo passport office was suffering from the same delays and alleged corruption that have long dogged applications in Zimbabwe.

The backlog of e-passport applications had reached 400,000 in 2018, and was reportedly down to 184,000 by the end of 2021, when the deal for the new passport was signed. At the time, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said the new system would be capable of issuing up to 30,000 travel documents per day.

A nationwide mobile registration exercise also ran from last April through September for birth registration and national IDs.

Meanwhile, Botswana and Zimbabwe have held talks on allowing people to travel between the neighboring nations using their digital identity cards, rather than requiring passports, VOA reports.

Article Topics

biometric passport  |  biometrics  |  digital ID  |  Garsu Pasaulis  |  Zimbabwe