Friday, May 18, 2007
Iraq asks Jordan to allow nationals to stay until year's end
Government
(RFE/RL) - The Iraqi government has reportedly asked Jordan to allow its nationals holding S-series passports to remain inside the kingdom until year-end, Amman's "Al-Dustur" reported on May 16. Jordan said earlier this year it will no longer allow Iraqis carrying outdated passports to remain in the country. However, the Iraqi government has been slow to issue new G-series passports. Iraq's ambassador to Jordan, Sa'd Jasim al-Hayyani, said that 7,000 applications received at the embassy to date and 3,000 passports have been issued. Al-Hayyani said Iraqi officials first requested an extension until September 30, and then until the end of the year. Neither request has been answered by Jordan.
Labels: Iraqi government, Jordan, Sa'd Jasim al-Hayyani, series G passports, series S passports
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Iraqi expats stranded in passport confusion
Travel
(Al Jazeera) Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi expatriates have been left stranded after their passports were declared invalid. The decision to declare some passports issued by the government of Saddam Hussein and after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, has caused problems for Iraqis around the world. The situation has been made more difficult because the first set of replacement passports have also been declared invalid and the new, legal version has not been sent to Iraq's consulates.
The problem began in 2005 when the new Iraqi government issued instructions to all immigration authorities that passports issued under the Saddam government, known as the N-series, and passports issued after the war, known as the S-series, would no longer be recognised. These were to be replaced by a new document, carrying a letter 'G', and would be the only officially recognised travel document, but these never reached Iraq's consulates abroad.
Iraqi expatriates are grateful to be outside their war-torn country, and away from death squads, but they now find themselves unable to travel freely. Thousands of Iraqis are stranded and are being denied access to the US, UK, and Canada, because they are either carrying S-series passports, or old but valid Iraqi passports issued under Saddam.
The three countries host Iraqis who either acquired passports, became refugees, or who hold residency permits; the UK is estimated to be home to 250,000 expatriates, the US and Canada hundreds of thousands more. Iraqi consulates are still issuing the S-type passports despite the fact that the Iraqi authorities cancelled it in 2005. Yasir al-Muaiad, the diplomatic attaché at the Iraqi embassy in Doha, Qatar, said he did not expect the problem to be solved in the near future.
"When the authorities realised there were technical problems that would prevent us from issuing the G-type passports, they tried to call off the cancellation of S-type passports, but some countries did not take the latest instructions on board and still insist on accepting only the G-type passports, like the US, UK, and Canada," he told Al Jazeera. Al-Muaiad expected the G-series passport to reach Iraqi consulates in Dubai, Jordan and Yemen.
He said: "The new passports will be sent first to the Arab countries which host large Iraqi communities, and the quantity is not expected to be much in the beginning. In Jordan, for example, they will start to issue 10 passports a week only." Walid Khalid, an Iraqi journalist in Baghdad, says the G-series is being issued in Baghdad. He said: "The G-type passport is available in Baghdad, people are getting it every day. We do not know why it is not being supplied to our embassies abroad."
The problem began in 2005 when the new Iraqi government issued instructions to all immigration authorities that passports issued under the Saddam government, known as the N-series, and passports issued after the war, known as the S-series, would no longer be recognised. These were to be replaced by a new document, carrying a letter 'G', and would be the only officially recognised travel document, but these never reached Iraq's consulates abroad.
Iraqi expatriates are grateful to be outside their war-torn country, and away from death squads, but they now find themselves unable to travel freely. Thousands of Iraqis are stranded and are being denied access to the US, UK, and Canada, because they are either carrying S-series passports, or old but valid Iraqi passports issued under Saddam.
The three countries host Iraqis who either acquired passports, became refugees, or who hold residency permits; the UK is estimated to be home to 250,000 expatriates, the US and Canada hundreds of thousands more. Iraqi consulates are still issuing the S-type passports despite the fact that the Iraqi authorities cancelled it in 2005. Yasir al-Muaiad, the diplomatic attaché at the Iraqi embassy in Doha, Qatar, said he did not expect the problem to be solved in the near future.
"When the authorities realised there were technical problems that would prevent us from issuing the G-type passports, they tried to call off the cancellation of S-type passports, but some countries did not take the latest instructions on board and still insist on accepting only the G-type passports, like the US, UK, and Canada," he told Al Jazeera. Al-Muaiad expected the G-series passport to reach Iraqi consulates in Dubai, Jordan and Yemen.
He said: "The new passports will be sent first to the Arab countries which host large Iraqi communities, and the quantity is not expected to be much in the beginning. In Jordan, for example, they will start to issue 10 passports a week only." Walid Khalid, an Iraqi journalist in Baghdad, says the G-series is being issued in Baghdad. He said: "The G-type passport is available in Baghdad, people are getting it every day. We do not know why it is not being supplied to our embassies abroad."
Labels: Iraqi expats, series G passports, series N passports, series S passports
Monday, March 05, 2007
Jordanians will only accept new series of Iraqi passports
(RFE/RL) Jordan has announced that only Iraqis carrying the new series G passports will be allowed to enter the country, international media reported on March 1. Iraq's series 'S' passports, issued after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, can be easily forged. The new passports, printed in Germany, contain several security enhancements, such as iris scans, which cannot be forged, the Amman-based "Al-Arab al-Yawm" reported. Meanwhile, Iraqi citizens from different areas of the country have reported difficulty in obtaining the new passports.
A Baghdad resident who fled to Jordan told the UN humanitarian news website IRIN that he paid a $2,000 bribe at the Foreign Ministry in Baghdad to obtain his series G passport. Jordan has also placed restrictions on Iraqi refugees entering the Hashemite kingdom, saying they must be over age 40 or under age 20, and must prove they have sufficient funds to support themselves while staying in the kingdom -- and they must hold a series G passport, according to IRIN.
Jordan's Interior Ministry also announced it will no longer renew residency permits for Iraqis holding series S passports. An Iraqi Embassy official in Jordan said the Foreign Ministry plans to begin providing the new passports on March 10, but only 10 passports a week will be issued. There are some 700,000 Iraqis estimated to be living in Jordan. "We tried to persuade Jordanian officials to delay the implementation of the law until we can renew all the passports of Iraqis, but they refused," the unidentified embassy official told IRIN.
Labels: Jordan, series G passports, series S passports
