The Passport Agency has been one of the worse-performing departments in the Abinader administration. Under the previous PLD governments, citizens could get a passport renewal in 24 hours. Today, Dominicans have to wait many months to get a passport. And because of the lack of passports, many Dominicans have a stamp that has extended their expired passport, something that had never occurred before.
Digna Reynoso, wife of the president of the Chamber of Deputies Alfredo Pacheco, is the director of the Passport Agency. Pacheco is a high-ranking Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) member. Recent tenders for traditional notebooks at the Passport Agency have been questioned for major irregularities.
On Tuesday, 4 July 2023, President Luis Abinader via Decree 282-23 declared a matter of national security the Passport Agency’s contracting of a company to issue electronic passports. The Passport Agency is authorized to bypass usual contracting protocols to expedite the issuing of the electronic passports. The decree gives the Passport Agency a year to carry out the contracting to change the passport notebook used by Dominicans.
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The Presidency highlights that the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) recommends electronic reading passports.
The decree indicates that 110 countries already issue passports that incorporate electronic chips, given these are more reliable and secure of easy maintenance and replacement.
The decree stresses electronic passports are a priority because they incorporate biometric elements that authenticate the traveler’s identity and citizenship.
Read more in Spanish:
Decree 282-23
Presidency
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5 July 2023