Obtaining passports still arduous for Afghans despite new system

Around the world it is normal practice to apply for and receive a passport within days if not weeks, but in militancy-hit Afghanistan applying for a passport took one applicant months to receive the document and travel overseas.

"I graduated from Kabul University and I want to go abroad to study a Master Degrees. It took me about two months before my passport was ready to be collected," Kabul resident, Sodaba Omari, 23, told Xinhua on Wednesday.

"The trouble started from my Tazkiara (National Identity Card), which is only a piece of paper. Before applying for my passport, I had visited the National Identity Card department of the Interior Ministry to verify my ID, but was told by officials that IDs without verification by the Population Registration office of the interior ministry won't be accepted,"she said.

The high rate of unemployment, coupled with increasing security incidents in the wake of foreign forces' withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2015, has prompted thousands of Afghans, mostly educated youth, to leave their war-torn country for the developed world, especially Europe.

More than 150,000 Afghans have migrated and applied for asylum abroad throughout last year, according to Minister for Refugees and Repatriation Affairs Sayed Hussain Alemi Balkhi.

Balkhi has also admitted that economic problems and security concerns are the main reasons for Afghans fleeing their country for the developed world in search of a better life.

"The economy is worsening and our national currency is depreciating. This year, the Afghani sank to a more than 14-year low but the government failed to control it. Insecurity and terror attacks added to our economic woes," said Ahmad Shah, who is going through the passport application process.

"It is the government's job to keep providing jobs and security for people. I am an information technology graduate and I have tried hard to find a job but have failed, so I have no choice but to leave."

Some Afghans apply for passports, not just for educational, or asylum purposes, but also in search of medical treatment.

"Hundreds of visitors arrive outside the passport department in cold weather at midnight. They stand in long lines waiting to hand over their application letters. Many families also visit the department located in western Kabul," Shah said.

To find a solution to the problem, the government launched an online passport application system and a home delivery service earlier this month.

"The initiative aims to facilitate passport distribution throughout the country. Applicants have to fill in a form online and then they have to visit the passport department only once for biometric processing and they will receive their passports by post to their homes,"Yasin Samim, spokesperson for the Telecommunication and Information Technology Ministry was quoted by local media as saying.

The names and the specifications in the old type of Afghan passports were handwritten before the government began issuing computerized passport a couple of years ago.

"The leadership of the Interior Ministry and officials of the Passport Directorate has applied new measures to the passport issuing system to help solve the problem," General Sayyed Omar Saboor, chairman of the Afghanistan Passport Directorate, told Xinhua.

About 7,000 people apply for passports throughout the country daily and the department issues around 4,000 passports within a day, according to Saboor.

"After we reformed the processing procedure for passport issuance, we print them in Britain, and after these new measures, nowadays people can receive their passports between 20 to 25 days, " he said.

"After receiving our passport, our difficulties are not over, however," said Shah.

"The inconvenience continues as some countries do not issue visas for the old type of passport and some don't for the new type. Some consulate offices also refer visa seekers to the foreign ministry for confirmation of the authenticity of their newly-issued passports."

"It is also a burden for most Afghans to pay some 5,500 afghani (around 81 U.S. dollars) for the passport fee. I think it's quite high," he said.