By Africa 24

At our national immigration office, we seem to have teething problems there about passports issuance.

Just after New Year’s day, January 2025, we saw a large crowd of passports seekers at national immigration building.

There are currently delays in obtaining traveling documents at the Immigration Office in Freetown.

On January 6th, the usual crowds of passport seekers were waiting to either process their passports books or collect them.

Obtaining an ECOWAS’ traveling clearance now is becoming a more troubling affair than few months ago in mid of 2024.

At end of the year 2024, it represented a big challenge for those who went to process their documents for traveling purposes at immigration.

An immigration officer at the screening and photographic unit at Immigration department (name withheld) told us in an off the record interview that “there are delays now” in securing passports.

“We are having serious problems in printing passports books. It will have to take one close to two weeks before one’s getting a printed copy (passport). I just don’t know why is that so. I guess the management knows better,” the immigration staff was speaking to our journalist on Monday 6th January, 2025.

He said they request now NLe 300 ( 3millon) as cost for securing a passport book.

The price is charged for a quick processing of the ECOWAS’ travel clearance, which is, even a delayed to a week or more.

While the government price stands at about NLe 2,800, he said, getting a printed one is a big challenge now.

Not only passports are hard to collect due to the more days taken to process them by immigration workers, but immigration has hinted an extra-charge fee on registration for obtaining a passport book.  Though government is yet to announce the new price on obtaining citizens’ passports, the cost has been added in the black market by passport agents who are helping citizens to obtain the traveling documents at the immigration point.

And citizens are already worried over the amount to be added for the ECOWAS’ travel clearance by the government.

“Today, we expect increment on the registration fee to secure a passport book which will double up the actual cost.

“But we don’t see that happen today; maybe, it is due to the [holiday].”

We observed the long queues at an open waiting ground floor at the Freetown’s Immigration department on January 6th 2025.

The new cost and delays are already affecting passports collectors.

The delays are also surely affecting overseas merry- makers very badly especially those requesting for visas processing.