The Wait for ePassports is Over

The wait for the ePassport is over. To ensure that Fijians are able to get their hands on the passports Department of Immigration staff members will be in training throughout the weekend. Director of Immigration Nemani Vuniwaqa also confirmed that people whose passports were

still valid could apply for the new ePassports, but would have to wait in line.

“New machines for the purpose of printing the ePassports have been installed in Suva. Machines will be installed in Labasa, Savusavu, Nadi and Lautoka by Wednesday,” he said.

“The plan is to start issuing the ePassports by next week. Once it starts, we will continue to do so until Saturday.” Mr Vuniwaqa said the first set of the 5000 passports will be issued to the people who are in waiting and are either renewing or getting a new passport.

“People who have valid passports can apply for the new ePassports. “Remember we have 9000 pending applications and only 5000 passports,” he said.

“New passports will be arriving during this time.”

The passports and the machines are from Germany. Consultants from Germany have been setting the machines at the new Department of Immigration Office which is situated in Amra Street in Walu Bay. An ePassport is a traditional passport that has an embedded electronic microprocessor chip, which contains biometric information that can be used to authenticate the identity of the passport holder.

It uses contactless smart card technology, including a microprocessor chip and antenna embedded in the front or back cover, or centre page, of the passport.

The passport’s critical information is printed on the data page of the passport, repeated on the machine readable lines and stored in the chip.

Biometric features such as retina, fingerprints and face is scanned and the information stored in the chip.