Head of Passport Directorate: Demand of temporary passports down by almost 42 pct in Jan-June

The demand in temporary passports dropped 42% in the past six months, while the demand for simple electronic passports increased by more than 37%, compared with the same period of 2017, according to a statement made on Saturday by the head of the Directorate General of Passports, Mirel Toanca. 

He told a press conference held at the headquarters of the Ministry of Internal Affairs that is due to the legislative changes that "are coming to meet the citizen's needs." 

"Last year we had several legislative changes, with a positive impact for the citizens, such as the doubling of the validity term, up to 10 years, in the case of the simple electronic passports, for the persons who are at least 18 years old. More than that, there were modified the conditions one must meet in order to get a simple temporary passport, which has a 12-month validity. This type of passport is issued in maximum three business days, but only in such situations when for health-related, family-related or professional reasons the presence of the respective person who applies for getting a temporary passport is immediately required on another state's territory and there is no time to issue a simple electronic passport," said Toanca. 

The head of the Directorate General of Passports showed that, if there are no such documents provided proving the immediate need and emergency to leave abroad, the simple temporary passports shall be issued within a maximum of 10 business days. 

"We are making efforts so that the simple electronic passports will be releases in a shorter amount of time than the one communicated when the request for such passport was made, respectively in less than 10 business days. In this respect, we have developed an online application, called "status pasaport," for the citizens to be able to track the process of solving the request for the simple electronic passport and to be able to come and take it from the desk earlier than the date communicated to them when they submitted their request, if the application shows that their simple electronic passport is already at the window," showed Mirel Toanca. 

He encouraged the citizens to apply online for a passport, so that their time at the window will be minimum.