By Wendella Davidson

MINISTER of Citizenship Winston Felix is in the process of addressing some technical issues that have delayed his plans to decentralise key citizenship services to the towns of New Amsterdam and Linden .

With construction 100 per cent completed at both locations, the issues at hand include the installation of transformers to provide reliable electricity to power the equipment. However, with the Guyana Power and Light and the Linden Power Company tackling the problems at the respective locations, the minister remains confident that relief for those urgently needing to access immigration services is just a stone’s throw away for those who have been experiencing grave hardship, due to distance and travel costs.

His move to construct new offices and have them operational in the two towns, is a result of his observations that there are several passport and birth registration needs in those communities, that he wishes to address.

Currently, training is ongoing for personnel who have been identified to fill vacancies at the two offices, by members of the Guyana Police Force.
Meanwhile, construction of an immigration office at Lethem is already in the pipeline, as monies have already been set aside in the 2019 National Budget for that purpose and the selection of tenders is well underway.

At these new passport offices, as is currently obtained in Georgetown, the aim is for citizens to receive improved production of the passports. The passport s are soon to be upgraded from machine-readable to E-Passports. The latter is a modern and enhanced travel document which will be accessorised with an electronic chip that will provide enhanced security for users.

The new E-Passport which will cost $10, 000, is expected to be of great benefit to frequent fliers, members of the judiciary, businessmen, parliamentarians and senior public servants, as it will be a 48-page document which will carry a 10-year life span.
In addition, Felix will be seeking to introduce the expeditious issuance of passports, which will be done at a cost of $20, 000; however, this speedy service for the travel documents will not benefit persons who have lost or damaged their passports.

This upgrade will allow Guyana to be in the range with other developed and developing countries across the Caribbean. “Our passport- issuing system will be overhauled, necessitating the replacement of all sorts of hardware systems,” Felix had earlier said.
Meanwhile, pensioners who previously have had to pay $6000 to obtain a passport, can now obtain the travel document at no cost.

In addition to the improved passport services, the ministry has also begun upgrading its registration services , which includes the annulling of the late registration condition that applies to a child one year and older.

To this end, late registration will be upped from one year to 11 years, while the first birth certificates will be free of cost for children up to 18 years of age.
The operations of the General Registrar’s Office which handles such services, is monitored by the Ministry of Citizenship. In 2018, GRO officers had travelled to Region One and other remote areas to ensure that children in those areas are registered, and too, that their parents obtain birth certificates.