Maldives Immigration has announced that electronic passport services will resume early next month following a temporary suspension caused by delays in the import of passport booklets.
The service was suspended in May after delays in the shipment of the passport booklets required to issue Ordinary Electronic Passports.
Speaking to PSM News, Controller General of Immigration Ahmed Faseeh said the materials required to produce the passports have now been ordered. He said the shipment is expected to arrive by the end of this month or early next month, with the service set to resume as soon as the supplies are received.
The electronic passport enables holders to use e-gate facilities, allowing travellers to complete immigration clearance without waiting in queues. In addition to the information stored on the passport's embedded electronic chip, the e-gate system verifies the holder's identity using facial recognition or fingerprint authentication.
Following the suspension of the e-passport service, Maldives Immigration began issuing Ordinary Non-Electronic Passports to all applicants seeking ordinary passports. The non-electronic passport is also a machine-readable travel document that complies with International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards and is issued with a validity of five years.
The fee for an Ordinary Electronic Passport is USD 64.85, while an Ordinary Non-Electronic Passport costs USD 38.91.
Maldives Immigration also said that, unlike previous occasions when similar circumstances arose, holders of Ordinary Non-Electronic Passports will be allowed to upgrade to an Ordinary Electronic Passport before the document expires without being required to pay a cancellation fee.