Beirut (agencies)
The Lebanese General Security, which is responsible for issuing passports in Lebanon, announced yesterday that it has suspended receiving requests from citizens wishing to issue new passports, because its stock of passports is nearing depletion due to the huge demand for them, and the lack of funding needed to purchase new quantities of them.
The General Directorate of Public Security said, in a statement, that since 2020, “it has witnessed great pressure on passport applications, exceeding tens of times in previous years, which affected its passport inventory.”
She added that, since the beginning of 2021, she had tried to secure the necessary additional quantities, and had asked the government to “accelerate securing the necessary funding to achieve the project,” but “to date, the contracting company has not paid the value of the signed contract, which led to the postponement of the delivery of the required quantity to Public Security, at a time The available amount of passports began to run out.”
Accordingly, the General Directorate of Public Security, according to the statement, stopped “working the passport dates platform, until those concerned take the necessary action and secure the funds required to implement the contract concluded with the company.”
The statement explained that “everyone who has an appointment on the platform will be given a passport, according to the date given to him previously.”
Since 2019, Lebanon has been going through an unprecedented economic crisis in the country’s history, and one of the worst crises in the history of the world since 1850. The national currency has lost more than 90% of its value, and 80% of the Lebanese have plunged into poverty.