70 000 uncollected ID cards at home affairs

IDENTITY document cards, passports and citizenship certificates are piling up as their owners fail to collect them from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety and Security.

This is according to executive director of home affairs Etienne Maritz in a press statement issued last week.

“The ministry has a total of 6 247 uncollected passports, 4 793 uncollected citizenship certificates, and 69 967 uncollected ID cards,” Maritz said.

He said the ministry has also recorded an alarmingly high number of applications for duplicate birth certificates and ID cards, which have been procured and printed at massive costs.

“In 2020, a total of 21 957 duplicate birth certificates were applied for, while 
37 792 ID card duplicates were also applied for since January 2020,” he said.

The ministry said the price of national documents has increased with about N$100 or N$200.

“You may have noted there is no longer a handling fee of N$80 being charged when applications are submitted. This was done to prevent applicants from moving between the service counter and the payment counter when submitting an application,” Maritz said.

The renewal of lost and damaged passports will now cost N$800, which is twice the original fee.

The ministry also announced citizenship by descent certificates would not be free any more, but would now cost N$500.

Maritz said the increased fees went through various approval processes before being gazetted last week.

“We therefore assure the public that much thought went into the decision-making process,” he said.

Maritz said there have been increases in the cost of procurement of new documents used by the ministry, which are mostly due to inflation over the years.

“The number of pages in a passport booklet has increased from 32 to 47, and the validity period has increased from five to 10 years. With the price of a passport being N$400, one is basically paying N$40 per year. This necessitated the doubling of passport fees,” he said.

Maritz said visas and permits will now be issued with a security sticker and no longer a stamp.

“Visa stickers are procured at a higher price compared to ink stamps,” he said.

In addition, the ministry maintained that Namibians appear to be negligent in the handling of their national documents, and increased fees would help them to better look after these.

“It appears there is negligence in the handling of national documents. We hope that with the increased fees, we will all be taking better care of our national documents,” he said.

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