South Sudan immigration chief apologizes for passport delays

JUBA – South Sudan’s Director of the Directorate of Civil Registry, Nationality, Passport, and Immigration, Major General Simon Majur, has apologized to the public for delays in issuing passports and national identity cards.

Speaking during a press conference in Juba on Monday, General Majur said the delays are due to a system outage that has affected the printing of documents and assured applicants that the issue will be resolved within a few days.

“I know majority of our citizens or our people in the country are looking for passport and national identity regardless of the time for travelling, studies and medical treatment outside the country,” he told journalists in his office in Juba.

“But for some reasons, we are going to apologize to the public from not informing them earlier although the issue of the system will be addressed within couple of days,” he added.

The immigration department has been experiencing system outages for over a week, leading to a backlog of applications. Some citizens have reported to Sudans Post that despite the official system being down, passports are still being issued on the black market at exorbitant prices, allegedly amounting to $250.

General Majur urged the public to be patient while the system is being repaired. He assured applicants that they would receive their documents once the printer was fully operational and the backlog of applications was cleared.

“Simply because our system is down, we have to ask our partner to come and restore the system, and I am sure within couple of days our system will be back and whoever needs passport and nationality will get their documents,” he said.

Majur also addressed the issue of passport expiration. He explained that passports in South Sudan are valid for ten years and must be renewed before they expire. Failure to renew a passport on time can result in system errors and delays in obtaining a new passport.

“We are supposed to renew it every ten years, so when the time comes and we didn’t renew on time it will shut down and we have to renew it again – it similar like any normal software,” he said.

For those traveling to East African countries, Majur advised using travel documents that are valid for three months. These documents can be obtained at airports, immigration offices, and border points.

“So, I urge the people who are going to East African country, you can just use travel document and that travel document you can get at the airport, our office at Kololo and exit point like Nimule that is the easy way to go to those countries,” he instructed.

Officials at the immigration department have been informing applicants about the printer breakdown and the resulting delays. They have assured applicants that they will be notified when the system is restored, and their documents are ready for pickup.