The Zimbabwean government is planning to open e-passport offices in the United Kingdom (UK) to make it easier to obtain essential documents.
Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Kazembe Kazembe revealed this in a recent wide-ranging interview with the Sunday Mail.
Zimbabwe introduced the biometric e-passport in December 2021. The e-passport includes advanced security features like fingerprints, which can help prevent forgery and identity theft compared to the older machine-readable passports. Despite the issuance of e-passports by the Civil Registry, the old machine-readable passports remain valid until their expiration. In the past, Zimbabweans living abroad had to return to Zimbabwe or arrange for someone to apply for new passports if their old ones expired.
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In April, Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to South Africa, David Hamadziripi, announced the completion of the passport center in Johannesburg, South Africa. The South African passport center can process 18 passports at the same time, with an expected turnaround time of less than 10 minutes per client, allowing for the clearance of at least 360 people per day.
Zimbabwe Opening E-Passport Offices In The UK
Home Affairs Minister Kazembe Kazembe revealed that the Government will open more centres in the United Kingdom (UK), United States (US) and Zambia:
“The department is targeting to establish e-passport offices in South Africa (Johannesburg and Cape Town). The Johannesburg e-passport office is ready for commissioning. The other offices will be established in the United Kingdom, the United States and Zambia.”
Minister Kazembe also said people can apply for their passports online from the end of the year. The Minister also revealed that the Government has opened additional e-passport centres across the country:
“So far, 15 e-passport offices have been established at the following registry offices since the inception of the project: Harare; the Bulawayo Provincial Registry; the Chinhoyi Provincial Registry; the Marondera Provincial Registry; the Gweru Provincial Registry; the Gwanda Provincial Registry; the Lupane Provincial Registry; the Chitungwiza District Registry; the Hwange District Registry; the Murewa District Registry; the Zvishavane District Registry; the Beitbridge District Registry; the Mazowe District Registry; the Chipinge District Registry; and the Mwenezi District Registry.”
