Hundreds of passports sitting unclaimed across Guyana

Hundreds of already processed passports are piling up at Immigration offices across the country, with officials warning that applicants are failing to return to collect their documents.

Deputy Chief Immigration Officer Stephen Telford said the backlog has reached concerning levels, despite continued applications from citizens.

“Currently we have hundreds of passports that were already printed, that persons would have applied for and those persons have not returned to uplift those passports,” Telford recently told the News Room.

He disclosed that at the Fort Wellington passport office alone— the newest in the system— more than 100 passports remain uncollected.

At the Leonora office, over 300 passports are still sitting idle, while Central Georgetown accounts for the largest share, with more than 1,500 passports waiting to be picked up.

“Persons are applying yes but they are not coming to uplift,” Telford said, adding that many only return when they urgently need identification for travel or business.

The remains for this is not specific, but Telford said persons eventually show up when the need arise for the document.

“It’s up until they realise that oh they supposed to pick up back their passport that they come or if they decide to travel or if they go to do a business and want a form of ID then they come to pick up their passport,” he said.

This, Telford said is one of the of several ongoing challenges for the passport system, alongside a growing number of applications for newborn babies.

He noted that parents are now applying for passports for infants as young as five days old following policy changes.

“…Five days in the baby life they are here applying for a passport for that baby because we are no longer allowing babies to be on their parents passport, every citizen is entitled to their own passport,” he explained.

Telford is therefore urging applicants to collect their passports promptly once processed, warning that the backlog continues to strain operations across the system.