Mzuzu Immigration Office yet to start printing passports

Printing passports is yet to resume at the Immigration Department office in Mzuzu, a day after the regional office was supposed to resume the service.

When we visited the office yesterday, only basic processes of passport application were conducted while the actual printing was still being done in Lilongwe.

At the time of the visit, hundreds of applicants were seen waiting on the outside and inside lounges where passport application and processing begin.

Christopher Zimba, who came from Mzimba, said he submitted his application form on May 19 2023 but when he followed it up yesterday, he was told to restart the process.

Zimba, who said he wants to travel to South Africa in search of greener pastures, claimed that Immigration officers told him to pay another K2 000 for passport photographs, a fee he already paid last year.

“It has been a year and two months now since I started processing my passport. I have spent over K150 000 on transport just to follow up on this. Today, I was told to pay a duplicate K2 000 fee for photographs after which I would fill the application forms again,” he said.

Mzuzu Immigration Department spokesperson Francis Chitambuli confirmed that they are yet to start printing.

He indicated that they were waiting for management to give them a go-ahead to resume printing.

Chitambuli explained that they are providing passport photo session, receiving passport fees, interviewing applicants and biometrics.

“I would not specify that there are technical challenges connected to passport printing but applicants should be optimistic that their passports will be printed,” he said.

Approximately, the Mzuzu office was yesterday expected to receive between 70 and 100 applications.

Meanwhile, the Defence and Security Committee of Parliament yesterday visited the Immigration Department and Citizenship Services Headquarters in Blantyre to appreciate the challenges passport applicants were facing.

In an interview, the committee’s chairperson Salim Bagus said passport applicants expressed their frustrations over the slow pace of the processes.

He said they asked immigration officials during the meeting to upgrade the system to resolve the issues.

“They have promised us that they are procuring a new system and that this will be completed by the end of the year but we are pleading with the government to hurry up the procurement process,” he said.

Immigration national spokesperson Wellington Chiponde confirmed the meeting.

He also said passport printing is only being done in Lilongwe.