The Passport Office will be open on Saturdays during the summer months to assist the increased amount of Bahamians seeking passports as they prepare for travel.
Acting Chief Passport Officer, Nicholas Symonette explained the new initiative. He said, “its a point in time when a lot of parents are able to bring in the children for enrollment of passports. So we just thought that we’d make it more convenient by opening on Saturdays for an extra few hours between the hours of 9:00 and 1:00 just to bring some convenience to the general public.”
Symonette added, “our average turnaround time is seven to ten business days which is probably half that of all of our neighbours. So I think we do good in that basis but at the moment we’ve been exceeding turnaround times and probably issuing passports within about six business days.”
The Acting Chief Passport Officer asked that persons in need of passports “visit the website, learn the criteria and find out what is needed before coming in office.”
A representative of the National Insurance Board (NIB) will also be present at the Passport Office to assist persons seeking passports as a a NIB number is required for the process.
NIB Registration Department Manager, Sanara Holmes said, “in ease of doing business for our customers we decided to collaborate with the Passport Office.”
The new initiative is expected to last until August.
