Prolonged delay of new passports from Colombo
 

From Mohammed Rasooldeen in Riyadh

Sri Lankan expatriates in Saudi Arabia who applied for their new passports through the Sri Lankan Embassy in Riyadh three months ago, are upset over the inordinate delay in getting their travel documents from Colombo.

The Sri Lankan embassy here, receives applications for new passports, dispatches to Colombo for processing at the Department of Immigration and Emigration. The processed passports are sent from Colombo by the weekly mail bag that come to the mission from the Foreign Ministry in Colombo. In the past, the new passports were issued to the applicants within three weeks from the time of their applications at the Riyadh Lankan mission.

"I applied for my new passport three months ago expecting the new document to come within three weeks and subsequently I had to make an additional payment of Rs. 3,500 to obtain an Emergency Certificate to go home. Even after my return, my new passport has not reached the mission here," lamented as Sri Lankan worker in the capital.

In Colombo, Rs. 2500 and Rs. 5,000 are being charged for Middle East and all countries passports respectively and are issued within eight hours. "But Sri Lankan workers who are working abroad have to pay Rs. 3,500 and 6,000 for new passports and wait for months to get them," a Sri Lankan worker said.

The Lankan embassy in Riyadh receives an average of 100 applications for new passports, while its consulate in Jeddah gets 50 applications for a month. According to an official from the Sri Lankan embassy, some 300 passports are held up in Colombo for the past three months.

The consulate in Jeddah is yet to get some 30 new passports from Colombo during the same period. The two Lankan mission in Kingdom operate monthly mobile services to place like Dammam, Madinah, Jizan, Yanbu and Taif where Lankans, give their passports for renewals to the visiting consular staff of the mission.

"Every month, these officials return without my passport," a Lankan from Dammam who had travelled 400 kms to get his new travel document told the Daily Nens, adding that he had to pay Rs. 1,000 for the taxi alone to meet the embassy consular team only to know that his passport was not received by the mission.

Expatriates' passports in the Kingdom are linked to their Resident Certificate (Iqama). An expatriate has to pay a fine of Rs. 13,000 when he fails to renew his Iqama within one month from the date of its expiry. "The prolonged delay of new passports from Colombo not only puts the poor Sri Lankan workers in distress but also it places us in sheer embarrassment," an official from the mission said.