General Security says passport crisis to end, appointments to be pushed closer

Director General of General Security Major General Abbas Ibrahim finally delivered some good news to all passport applicants after a long wait.

Starting next week, the passport crisis that started more than a year ago will gradually come to an end for Lebanese citizens.

As of Monday, the Directorate General of General Security will increase the rate at which biometric passports are issued, from the previous 1,500 per day to 3,000 per day. Citizens will receive the new, biometric passport rather than the old one.

What will, however, be different for citizens who previously scheduled appointments on the platform, some of which ran through 2024?

By combining the application submission dates—that is, combining every three days of applications into one day—all appointments made on the platform will be rescheduled and made closer to half or two-thirds of their original times. For instance, if someone had an appointment after a month, it would be at most after only 10 or 15 days later.

Text messages will be used to notify all citizens who have previously registered appointments on the platform of any new appointments.

In order to maintain the organizational processes for applications, new applications will continue to be submitted through the Directorate General of General Security platform. 

It should be noted, however, that the committee that made decisions regarding exceptional applications and conditions submitted by citizens will be dissolved.

To avoid any future delays in the disbursement of funds, the Directorate General of General Security is about to launch a new tender for the purchase and storage of new biometric passports, according to information obtained by LBCI.