“They have gotten used to brokerage; the passport reservation offices on the platform will not change their dealings,” said Juma al-Hamoud, whom Enab Baladi met at the entrance of the Immigration Department in Damascus.
Al-Hamoud paid 2.3 million Syrian pounds to the registration office on the passport platform, which took a commission of 150,000 Syrian pounds.
Citizens complain about the rising costs of issuing passports, limiting them to urgent passports, as well as the high commissions of the registration offices to reserve a turn to obtain a passport.
Meanwhile, Abdul Haq al-Mohammad paid 2.4 million Syrian pounds for registration on the passport platform, with the office’s commission being 200,000 Syrian pounds.
Enab Baladi has documented many similar cases, as some passport reservation offices operate as “brokers,” with service fees ranging between 150,000 and 300,000 Syrian pounds.
The Ministry of Interior has set the amount of 2.1 million Syrian pounds for an urgent passport, and currently, issuing passports according to turns is limited to urgent passports, via reserving a turn and making payment on the special platform for applying for passports.
According to a bulletin from the Central Bank of Syria (CBS), the exchange rate of the Syrian pound against the US dollar is about 12,000 Syrian pounds, while the average value of the Syrian pound against the US dollar in the black market is around 12,500 Syrian pounds, according to the S-P Today website.
Clarification from Immigration and Passports Department
The Director of Immigration in Damascus, Walid Orabi, explained to Enab Baladi that these offices are not affiliated with the Ministry of Interior or the Immigration Department, and the optimal solution to eliminate these offices is to increase passport issuance productivity to resolve the pressure issue on the platform.
Citizens are in urgent need of passports; for this reason, they resort to registration offices on the platform or transaction intermediaries to obtain the passport as quickly as possible, according to Orabi.
Orabi pointed out that the Immigration Department needs stability in passport issuance to lower the fees for urgent passports inside Syria.
Initially, the Immigration Department needs to reduce the pressure on passport issuance, then implement plans and studies so that applying for a passport becomes convenient and at a lower price, according to Orabi.
Reduction of fees outside Syria
Earlier, the official in charge of the Immigration and Passports Department, Walid Orabi, revealed to Enab Baladi that there is a study to reduce the issuance fees for passports for those outside Syria in the near future.
Orabi did not clarify the potential nature of the reduction and its percentage, as the cost of an urgent passport currently is 800 US dollars, while a regular passport costs 300 US dollars.
He added that the application for obtaining a passport for those outside Syria can be done by their relatives without registering on the platform.
Citizens complain about rising passport costs, brokerage fees Enab Baladi.
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