Maldives Immigration has announced that electronic passport services are expected to resume early next month following a temporary suspension caused by delays in the import of passport booklets.
The service was suspended in May after shipments of the passport booklets required to issue Ordinary Electronic Passports were delayed.
Controller General of Immigration Ahmed Faseeh said the materials needed to produce the passports have now been ordered. He said the shipment is expected to arrive by the end of this month or early next month, allowing the service to resume as soon as the supplies are received.
The electronic passport allows holders to use e-gate facilities, enabling travellers to complete immigration clearance without waiting in queues. The system verifies a traveller’s identity using facial recognition or fingerprint authentication in addition to the information stored on the passport’s embedded electronic chip.
During the suspension, Maldives Immigration began issuing Ordinary Non-Electronic Passports to applicants seeking ordinary passports. The non-electronic passport is a machine-readable travel document that complies with International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards and is issued with a validity of five years.
Maldives Immigration also said that holders of Ordinary Non-Electronic Passports issued during the suspension will be allowed to upgrade to an Ordinary Electronic Passport before the document expires without paying a cancellation fee, unlike during previous service interruptions.
