Immigration concerned about passport fraud

The Immigration Department will soon be moving ahead with plans to issue machine readable passports to the public, according to acting Chief Immigration Officer Keith Ameerali. His announcement came at the launch of the new $56,000 immigration web site yesterday. Ameerali said it would mean that passports previously issued would be recalled, and this was being done in an effort to reduce passport fraud in the country. He added that the fraudsters have improved their technology and have learnt how to issue fraudulent passports in a very professional manner.

The machine readable passports are expected to reduce passport fraud significantly. Passport fraud is detected by immigration officers after careful scrutiny. It was revealed that the issuing of machine readable passports could start by the end of the year. Tenders for a contract to be issued to an international firm to produce the machine readable passports will go out soon. When the new passports are issued, they will bring Trinidad and Tobago up to date with the most current technology in terms of fraud prevention.

Yesterday, the Immigration Department launched a web site making it possible for persons to download passport application forms from the web site. The web site is aimed at reducing the amount of time people spend going to the Immigration Department to collect forms and seek information. This can now be achieved by simply downloading the forms and information from the web site. Non-citizens will also be able to download forms. Information on the size of photos required, where payments can be made and how to fill out forms are available on the web site.