Citizens of Dominica have been granted a six-month extension to move from the “machine-readable passports to the electronic E-Passport” by the Ministry of National Security.
That announcement was made by the Minister of National Security Rayburn Blackmoore this week and a press briefing in his office.
“In January 2022, the government announced an amendment to the transition period from the machine-readable passport to the E-passport from 2 years to six months. At the time, we indicated that this was due to the growing need to bring Dominica in sync with the rest of the world in terms of E-documents to ensure a robust and more secure passport and this remains part of Dominica’s goal toward complete digitization, improved and secure process and building of resilience on all levels. Accordingly, the transition was set to end on August 31, 2022,” Blackmoore stated.
He stated that notwithstanding the continued need to migrate to the E-passport as soon as is possible to ensure that Dominica’s passport is following international standards, and notwithstanding the remaining security imperative to move to an E-passport as quickly as possible, his Ministry remains focused on the needs of nationals and in being responsive to Dominican citizens here and abroad.
“Having considered the numbers of applications being processed daily and being mindful of the challenges which we are fully aware of as well as the requests from the public for additional time for applying for the new E-passport, the government has decided to extend the deadline for transitioning from the machine-readable passport to the E-passport to December 31, 2022,” he said.
“This will be the final extension and we promise to continue interfacing with the public as we move to successfully transition to our new electronic passport and as we seek to make your efforts at transition as seamless as possible”.
Blackmoore revealed that citizens via the mobile kits were recently completed in St. Maarten/St. Martin, St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John’s were met with “considerable support and enthusiasm”.
“290 Passport applications were processed for St. Maarten/St. Martin, 191 for St. Thomas, 161 St. Croix/St. John made it a total of 597 processed. The tremendous success of the venture is owing to the hardworking police officers who traveled to these islands and the tremendous outpouring of support of the Dominican community resident on these islands,” the Minister stated.
He extended praises to all those responsible and working late nights and tirelessly to ensure that the work is done and completed “on time.”