Many people are still confused when making passports online.

Travel long distance to get passport directly

According to records, although there are instructions for making passports online, many people from districts and towns still flock to the Immigration Department to apply for new passports and change their passports for many reasons.

Mr. Ngo Van Dong in Yen Thanh district said that he had submitted his passport application online on July 12 and had also paid, but so far he had not received any feedback or progress information from the authorities. When he went to the Immigration Department to ask, he was told that because the citizen data did not match the National Population Data, the application was invalid. “Previously, the Immigration Department officer had contacted me by phone to instruct me to supplement it but could not reach me because I went to my daughter's house in Vinh city to play, forgot my phone at home, and did not notice when I got home so I did not call back,” said Mr. Dong.

Ms. Nguyen Ha Lam from Quy Hop district said: “Although I have completed all the steps, I have waited for a long time but still have not received the payment link. Therefore, I had some business in Vinh City so I went directly to the Immigration Department to ask and found out that the portrait photo I took myself was not the right size, the background had an inappropriate gray level... Only then did I know that the Immigration Department officer had previously sent a request for additional information via SMS and email; however, because I did not update it, I did not know.”

Also at the Immigration Department, a resident from Ky Son district said that because he was not proficient in technology and could not operate online, he had to travel nearly 200 km from Ky Son district to Vinh city to ask the staff for guidance on making a passport. Not only the above cases, many people we met at the Immigration Department were "soaked in sweat", struggling all day but still could not register to be issued a passport.

According to Mr. Le Xuan Tien, from Yen Thanh district, although he had completed all the steps, when uploading the portrait photo to the system, he received a message saying "4x6 portrait photo is invalid. The reason is that the face contrast is not up to standard", even though he tried it 3 times, the result was still the same. Only after asking the guide did he know that he had to take the photo with a normal camera, no photoshop... According to Ms. Nguyen Thanh Hoa, from Nghia Dan district, the network congestion caused the registration process to be interrupted, taking a lot of time, and needed support from staff to complete the passport issuance procedure.

In addition, according to statistics from the Immigration Department, each week through the Public Service Portal, the department still has to answer 7-10 questions related to the process of completing online passport application documents.

Continue to propagate and guide

In reality, many citizens are unable to complete the passport application procedures because they do not fully understand the steps. Therefore, the number of citizens who come directly to the Immigration Department headquarters every day is still very large, up to hundreds of people.

According to Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Thi Huong Giang - Deputy Head of the Immigration Management Department, Provincial Police: Nghe An deploysonline passportAccording to regulations from June 1, 2022, it is also one of the localities with a large number of passport issuance and renewal applications compared to the whole country. Currently, the office receives an average of 500 applications per day. Therefore, in order for people to be able to make their own passports, the office arranges 3 officers every day to directly guide people, and at the same time, continues to guide in many forms, ensuring both listening, viewing and reading.

Specifically, in addition to the loudspeaker system, in the headquarters of the Immigration Management Department, there is a TV with specific step-by-step instructions so that people can do it themselves on their computers and phones, and there are leaflets with instructions. Not to mention, right on the Fanpage of Immigration Management - Nghe An Provincial Police, there are also many instructions on operations and answers to frequently asked questions, just pay attention, and you can do it.

In addition, to prevent people, especially those in mountainous, remote and isolated districts from losing money to solicitors who claim to register, issue, and change passports and travel documents on their behalf, the Immigration Department also issues daily warnings in three languages, including Kinh, Mong and Thai, to help people stay informed. On peak days, the department also coordinates with the Truong Thi Ward Police, the Traffic Police Team of Vinh City Police to ensure security, order, traffic safety, and handle solicitors... However, in reality, there are still cases where people lose money unjustly because they are afraid to find out so they ask for help from "brokers". To ensure a closed passport application process, helping people save time and effort traveling, the Immigration Department has linked up with banks and post offices to send officers to receive people's requests for opening accounts, delivering passports...

Regarding some questions related to losing a passport but declaring a passport for the first time, is it possible? Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Thi Huong Giang said that when issuing a new passport, the officer will look up the passport issuance history to know whether the person has been issued a passport or not. The act of "Making false declarations to be issued, extended, restored to use value or reporting a lost passport" is a violation of the law as stipulated in Point b, Clause 2, Article 18, Decree 144/2021/ND-CP with a fine of 500,000 to 2,000,000 VND.

The question is, after surgery, do you need to re-issue your passport? Currently, the law does not specifically stipulate the extent to which identification changes require re-issuance of your passport. Although the law does not stipulate, because passports are related to entry and exit, if you need to travel between countries after cosmetic surgery, you should still re-issue your passport. Therefore, you should change your citizen identification to your current identification before making a passport.

Regarding the reflection that there are times when citizens receive their passports later than prescribed, according to Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Thi Huong Giang, when the application is checked and approved by the immigration management agency, citizens will receive a notification from the Public Service Portal and pay the fee according to the instructions in the SMS or email. Accordingly, the time to return the results is 8 working days from the date of payment of the fee (excluding Saturdays and Sundays). However, there are times when the passport does not arrive in time, in addition to the above reasons, there are also technical reasons, interrupted transmission lines, etc.