BY NED GAGAHE
The Ministry of Commerce Labour and Immigration (MCLI) has temporarily suspended the processing of passports for seasonal workers until further notice.
The suspension took effect as of Monday, January 30 to allow the ministry to work on space at the immigration department dedicated for serving labour mobility applicants.
In an interview yesterday Permanent Secretary Riley Mesetitu said the decision was made after consultation with the Director of Immigration.
“We met on Monday 30th and made up some decisions but we are yet to finalise.
“This week our office has been flooded with crowd and we cannot accommodate everybody who comes in.
“So, this week we use it to clear off the back logs of passports that were already processed and ready for collection.
“Hopefully, next week we will again resume normal services.”
Mesepitu said discussion is well underway with his team at the immigration department on best way forward to address the issue.
“In terms of space, we are working on that we will also increase the number of manpower and space at the immigration.
“So, we will do some arrangements allocate more space for immigration and special unit dedicated to serve passport applicants for seasonal work.
“It will take us some time to rearrange office to control crowd coming in.
“This are some of the things we are planning to do.
“I will not make a timeframe on how long it will take us to achieve that but it is anticipated that it will be just a brief suspension. It won’t take too long,” Mesepitu said.
