WORK on the construction of a building in the commercial zone of the Town of Lethem, to serve as the Lethem Immigration Office is continuing, in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic which has impacted the pace at which the work has been progressing.

The work is being executed by R. Kissoon Contracting Services for a contract sum of approximately $42.3 M.

Upon completion, residents of the community will no longer have to travel to the city to access services, such as the processing of passport applications, and birth and death certificates.

Under the Coalition Government’s initiative of decentralising key services to communities, construction of immigration offices in Regions Six and Ten, commenced and were completed under the supervision of the Department of Citizenship of the Ministry of the Presidency, headed by Minister of Citizenship, Winston Felix.

The aim was to alleviate the hassle endured by residents of Berbice and Linden, who, previously, were forced to leave their homes during the wee hours of the morning and travel to the city, in order to join a line outside the Central Immigration Office, Eve Leary, to access immigration services.

Likewise, a similar routine had to be done when seeking services to procure a birth or death certificate.

In August 2016, a temporary office was established. Land was subsequently procured in Retrieve, Linden, and a spanking new building, costing $38M, was constructed.
At the official opening of the building, in February 2020, it was reported that more than 2, 623 passports were already distributed to applicants.

Also, in February 2020, a new $57.5M Immigration office, sited in Canjie, New Amsterdam, was commissioned. The office which was put into operation on July 15, 2019 services residents from as far as the Corentyne.

Records showed that from July 2019 to February 2020, a total of 6, 122 applications were accepted and processed at the New Amsterdam office.
Meanwhile, senior citizens are no longer required to pay when applying for a passport.