Govt rakes in US$11m through passports in December...

Govt rakes in US$11m through passports in December alone

Zim Now Writer
Official statistics have revealed that 92 313 Zimbabweans applied for e-passports from December 1 to December 29, which translates to US$11 077 560 earned from ordinary passports alone.

Citizens rushed to apply for the passports in December to beat the January 1 deadline after fees for the travelling documents were hiked from US$120 to US$150 for an ordinary passport.

Emergency passports now cost US$250 from US$200.

The extra US$20 for processing the travel document still subsists.

Registrar-General, Henry Machiri, confirmed the development, noting that last month, the department received more applications because citizens wanted to beat the deadline for new passport fees.

“Initially, the first announcement that was made by the Finance minister (Mthuli Ncube) in his budget was that passport fees will be increased from US$100 to US$200 and then the emergency one from US$200 to US$300 … the figures were reduced downwards, it is now US$150 and the emergency one will be US$250.

“A lot of people applied for passports before January 1, 2024, when the new fee was effected. This period, we normally get more people applying because we have citizens in the diaspora, and they apply during the Christmas holidays,” he said.

“We also have schoolchildren who cannot come to the Passport Office during school days. They also take advantage of the holidays. We also have industries that close this time, this is the time when people will be free and they will apply for passports, so yes, it is a period when we have an upsurge in applications.

“Last year, it was a bit more because people were notified that the passport fee is going to go up, so they were trying to beat the deadline and make sure they submit all the necessary requirements in time,” Machiri said.