The immigration staff have adapted to the new e-passport system, producing close to one thousand books every week.

Permanent Secretary for the Prime Minister’s Officer Yogesh Karan says the processing time for passport issuance has been reduced as well.

Karan says the Immigration Department receives close to 300 new applications on a daily basis.

“It required enormous time to train all our staff that are involved so now we are doing very well. This is evident in the statistics I have given you which is 13,000 passports in 6 weeks which is a very good time by the standard.”

The old equipment produced around 25,000 passports in a year, however, the Immigration Department has made 13,000 passports in six weeks with the e-passport system.