President Dr Irfaan Ali has announced that systems will be put in place to ensure that within a week, the backlog of passports to be issued will be cleared.
This, he indicated, will likely result in a reduction in the long waiting time for persons applying for new passports or seeking renewals.
The backlog currently stands at over 5,700 for both persons in Guyana and in the diaspora.
And as it stands, persons who recently applied for a new passport/seeking renewals have to wait as long as two months to get back their travel document.
“…we are working to completely bring to nil this backlog by next Friday,” Ali has announced.
Meanwhile, President Ali is urging persons to utilise the regional passport offices, noting that there is a huge concentration of applications in Georgetown.
The Head of State also reminded that Guyana had recently suffered a shortage of passport, which also impacted the process.
Last year, the government had ordered some 80,000 new passports to meet local demands.
