General Security resumes passports issuance without prior appointments

This means that any citizen wanting to renew their passport must go to any regional center of the General Security Directorate between 8 am and 3 pm on any working day, submit their documents, give their fingerprints, pay the fees, and receive a receipt.

Currently, the General Security Directorate holds 800,000 passports in its warehouses, which are expected to be enough for two years. The number of daily passport issuances will increase from 2,000 to between 2,500 and 3,000. The General Security Directorate is also launching a new tender to purchase 1.1 million new passports.

However, the success of the new system requires awareness from citizens. Last year, 70 percent of the passports issued were not used by their owners, and 25,000 passports were not collected from the General Security Directorate. If citizens do not change their mentality, those needing a passport may be deprived of it due to unnecessary panic.