Already behind schedule, a final recommendation on machine-readable passports, secure visas and work permit documents should be ready for the government “shortly,” according to Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell.<\/p>\n
“I also need to advise the public that there are likely to be substantial increases in the cost of passports [and] visa documents once the new ones are available,” said Minister Mitchell, while concluding his contribution to the 2006\/2007 budget debate in the House of Assembly yesterday. <\/p>\n
He said provisions have been made for a $1.2 million increase for the computerization of passports and visas.<\/p>\n
The 2005\/2006 budget earmarked $500,000 for the process. <\/p>\n
The minister was however quick to point out that the $1.2 million will not be enough to finance the implementation.<\/p>\n
“There will probably be some financing arrangement, but the allocation is there to provide the basis for the startup process and I am advised that the Department of Immigration will share the cost,” Minister Mitchell said. <\/p>\n
In a recent interview with the Bahama Journal, Minister Mitchell explained that the delays in introducing the new documents came about due to a change in the standards relating to what information would be included in the travel documents.<\/p>\n
This in turn translated into the system being that more expensive, he said.<\/p>\n
The government had hoped that the machine-readable passports would have been in place by this month. <\/p>\n
Machine-readable passports, which have certain biometric data entered on the data page, are a key step in meeting International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) global objectives. <\/p>\n
The document is designed to minimise delays in border crossing formalities and to safeguard international civil aviation operations against acts of unlawful interference.<\/p>\n
The U.S Department of State has said the passports are expected to help deter fraud and quickly confirm a passport holder\uff92s identity, as they would be that much more difficult to forge.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, Minister Mitchell also announced plans to pursue amendments to several pieces of legislation, including the Pensions Act and the Judges Pension Act. <\/p>\n
The plan is to also seek to correct the anomaly for the late Lois Symonette, a long-time public servant.<\/p>\n
By: Macushla N. Pinder, The Bahama Journal<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New government documents are already well behind schedule and will cost considerably more when finally issued.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-242538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242538\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}