GOL Launches New Biometric Passports Monday

MONROVIA – The Government of Liberia (GOL) will formally launch the new national biometric passports at the Ministry of foreign Affairs Monday, November 2, 2009 on Capitol Hill.

The new passports will meet the global requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for Biometric Machine Readable Passports to be in effect by April 2010.

The passports are categorized as follows: ordinary, diplomatic, official and service. The new ordinary Liberian biometric passport will be valid for five years, while the new diplomatic and official Liberian Biometric Passports shall be issued for two years, consistent with existing guidelines. Service passports shall be issued for one or two years, depending on the mission for which they are being issued.

All Liberians are entitled to travel a document which is the Ordinary Passport, without discrimination. All passports will be issued in Monrovia at a price of US$50 each. All applicants in the country are required to physically appear at the Division of Passports and Visas of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to process their passports.

According to the ministry, applicants residing abroad may continue to use their current passports until the Data Collection Points at designated embassies are set up for processing passport applications. Notification dates for these will be forthcoming.

Accordingly, documentation, including forms and fingerprints will be processed at their various data collection points at designated embassies and forwarded to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for issuance of passports.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has forwarded samples of the new National Biometric Passports to the various embassies near Monrovia as well as to its embassies overseas. Copies have also been sent to Liberia’s Permanent Mission in New York for onward presentation at the United Nations to countries that do not have embassies in Liberia.