Recommender Requirement for Passport Applications to Be Removed

With Minister Francis Fonseca taking over the Immigration ministry, several notable changes have been observed ranging from strategies to improve customer service to the streamlining of processes.  Today’s House Meeting saw the announcement of another change when it comes to the passport application.  According to Fonseca, the elimination of a recommender in the process would eliminate some degree of corruption.

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Foreign Affairs: “We have a duty and responsibility as a government and certainly as a Ministry of Immigration to ensure that we’re doing everything possible to improve that customer experience for our citizens so that when they go to the Ministry of Immigration, the Department of Immigration, that they’re treated with courtesy and respect and that they are delivered services in an efficient and effective manner. That has to be our objective and our goal. So that’s very important. I have to, and I can say, Madam Speaker, I had to put this in here my colleagues in cabinet have not yet approved it, but I hope they will. The  Prime Minister supports it. He started it, actually.  He started a discussion about it. So I’m just finishing what he started. We have to go through all this bureaucratic process of getting people to recommend you for passport and these other things. Completely meaningless. Completely meaningless. So we are going to eliminate that requirement for a recommender for passports. It only leads to, it leads to corruption, it leads to all kind of foolishness. So I have a paper before the cabinet.  We’ll deal with it next week, Tuesday. But you all can approve now.” 

As noted, the elimination is merely a recommendation to date.  It is yet to be presented to Cabinet for approval.