The Tribune

By KYLE WALKINE

Tribune Staff Reporter

kwalkine@tribunemedia.net

IRATE passport applicants felt the brunt of the summer rush yesterday as they stood for hours outside the Thompson Boulevard Passport Office hoping to make it inside the building and out of the scorching sun to file their applications. When The Tribune arrived at the Passport Office around noon yesterday about 50 people were gathered under a plastic tent outside the building with some being forced to stand out in the sun with no shade at all.

With there being no organised line or number system, people said they were forced to push their way to the front and squeeze their way inside once the door was opened by the security officer. At times only two or three people were allowed inside. 

Yesterday was Perry Johnson’s second attempt at trying to put in an application for his one-month-old daughter to get her first passport. 

Mr Johnson told The Tribune that he was at the government agency on Monday but couldn’t force his way to the front of the crowd of people waiting to get inside.

“This is my second day here,” he said, cradling his infant daughter in one hand and her carrier in the other. “Hopefully I get inside. I asked to carry my baby inside out the sun and the security told me no.

“They need to improve the system man,” Mr Johnson added. “Everyone should have already been gone. They should have been dealing with this so it could be easier. The government still has this old system now where we have all this confusion where you have people who have been here from long time can’t get in, but others who just reach are just walking in and being served. You have people like myself who have been waiting out here for hours.”

Another applicant, Michelle Lightbourne, described the chaos as a “free for all” open to anyone that has the ability to “dive in”. 

“It’s obviously very frustrating,” she said. “I got here at 9am thinking that was ample (time). The workers are not giving anybody any numbers and they’re not giving anyone any idea what to expect. So there is mass confusion. You have people standing here waiting. It’s a free for all. Everybody just dives in.”

Ms Lightbourne said she had been pushed by other people queuing up outside the office and that some who came after her were able to get in front of her.

“There’s just no rhyme or reason,” she added. “I just don’t understand how the Bahamian people could be treated like this. There’s absolutely no communication. We have no idea if we’re going to even be let in today. This is just ridiculous. There’s a gentleman out there with a young baby. I’m even looking at another man with a walker. Something has to be done.”

Cynthia Holmes said she showed up to renew her passport yesterday, but when she saw the line decided she would return to the Passport Office at 7am today.

“This doesn’t make any sense,” she told The Tribune. “There is no type of structure that can ensure a smooth flow into the office.”

Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell on Sunday alerted Bahamians about delays in passport services this summer. He urged Bahamians to “be patient” and “not abusive” to staff at the Passport Office. 

According to Mr Mitchell the wait time, as he was advised, is now six weeks, up from four weeks. 

However, a mother who was at the Passport Office yesterday said she has been waiting since February for her 7-year-old child’s passport.

“They kept telling me to come on Friday, but when I come the passport isn’t ready,” she said as she waited. “They called me and told me to come again today. I hope it is.”

Mr Mitchell also said the Ministry of National Security would be working with officials at the Passport Office to keep order at the facility. 

“I am advised that the reason for this is the combination of the rush for people to replace their handwritten passports with electronic passports which is mandated by an international agreement and the expected summer travel rush,” Mr Mitchell said in a statement on Sunday. “I have met with the management of the passport staff and we are making several attempts to ease the situation.

“The minister for the public service has agreed to enable officers from across the service to join the passport office for this period and to assist in the creation of a two shift system in order to speed up the process.

“Please note that if passports are required on an emergency basis, for example for health reasons, there is a procedure to deal with such genuine emergencies,” Mr Mitchell said.

Calls to Chief Passport Officer Franklyn Dames were not returned yesterday. 

For many years the summer months have been the busiest months at the Passport Office.