Fijians who lodged passport applications between January 6 and August 2, can finally breathe a sigh of relief as the Immigration Department had begun printing backlogged passports, with collection set to start from Monday.

In a ministerial statement to Parliament this morning, Minister for Immigration Viliame Naupoto stated that printing of the delayed passports commenced last night, following the arrival of 30,000 new passport books.

He says as of this morning, approximately 400 passports had already been printed, with the department planning to work overtime through the weekend to increase the output.

“We expect that by Monday we should have around 3,000 applications dealt with and the passports printed ready for collection. The collection will begin from Monday.  Collection hours will be from 9am to 7pm. We have produced a schedule for those that want to come in and collect their passport depending on when they lodged their application.”

Naupoto says to manage the high volume of applicants and avoid congestion, the Immigration Department has implemented a structured collection schedule, based on the date of application lodgment.

He says the schedule is now available on the Immigration Department’s website, the main government portal, and the Immigration Facebook page.

Naupoto says the Suva Immigration Office will also remain open until 8pm from Monday for those wishing to submit new applications or renewals, offering flexibility for individuals who cannot book appointments online or visit during regular working hours.

Naupoto says that the remaining 70,000 passport books will arrive in Fiji over the next few months and given this is a new financial year,  the process of ordering another 100,000 this year is already in process.

He adds that over the years the passport stock that has been ordered annually has been 40,000.

The Immigration Minister says this is the first time they are ordering 100,000 so that there is enough books there for those that need passports.

Naupoto says the new books have been modified with a modern chip that meets the latest International Civil Aviation Organization standards.

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