Georgetown: The Home Affairs Ministry has announced that with immediate effect, applicants for passports and other travel documents will be required to present original birth certificates.
According to the Ministry, these should be issued no less than two years prior to the date of submission of the applications, instead of six months.
The Ministry last month had said that following the introduction of the machine-readable passport system in 2007, plans are in train to have a new category of passports that would be less susceptible to forgery.
The Clement Rohee-led Ministry had explained that built into that arrangement was a requirement by the Ministry that the Guyana Police Force (GPF) would ensure that the birth certificates for first time applicants for passports were issued not more than six months prior to the date of application.
“The Ministry in an effort to preserve the integrity of the system is now reinforcing its policy directive originally given to the GPF.
“This process is necessary to enable Guyana to comply with international best practices and prevent the illegal use of travel documents.
“The Ministry is conscious of the temporary inconvenience members of the public will suffer and expects that the Guyana Police Force will take all necessary steps to negate any difficulties that members of the public, especially those who need special assistance, may experience,” the release had said.
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