Govt Hikes Passport Fees By Nearly 150 Per Cent

Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Kazembe Kazembe has announced that ordinary and emergency passport fees have been increased.

Speaking to reporters at a post-cabinet media briefing in Harare on Tuesday, Kazembe also revealed that citizens can make their applications using foreign currency. Said Kazembe:

We have revised upwards our ordinary and emergency passport fees application from RTGS$53 and RTGS$253 to RTGS$150 and RTGS$650, respectively.

Because we are subsidising the production of passports, cabinet has also approved that citizens can make their applications using foreign currency. We are just waiting for Finance Minister Prof. Mthuli Ncube to come up with a Statutory Instrument.

The passport backlog that currently stands at ‪400 000‬ and the Registrar-general Clemence Masango recently revealed that the printing of ordinary passports has been suspended due to a shortage of consumables.

Recently, the government announced that Zimbabweans living in the diaspora can renew their passports for a fee of US$318.00.

More: Zimbabwe Voice