However, the directorate announced today, Thursday, April 28, that it has suspended work on the platform since yesterday, due to the start of running out of the number of passports it owns, and the inability of the state to pay the value of the contract to the company contracting with it to secure passports, and thus the delay in obtaining passports sufficient for the volume of applications submitted. The directorate indicated that “as of the year 2020, it has witnessed great pressure on passport applications, which exceeded tens of times in previous years, which affected its passport inventory.”
Stopping the platform does not mean opening the door for everyone to obtain passports without prior appointments. Rather, it means stopping giving appointments until the directorate finishes completing the applications submitted in advance, until the number of passports it owns runs out or the funding problem is solved and supplied with additional passports. The directorate confirmed that “everyone who has an appointment on the platform will be granted a passport according to the date given to him previously.”