The General Directorate of Passports began accepting in-person applications for passports today (Wednesday).

According to directorate spokesman, Noorullah Patman, the decision was made to provide further facilities for people to get passports.

"We started distributing passports based on in-person applications for getting passports, in addition to online registration. Applications from passport applicants are collected every Thursday, and the remaining work is resolved on other days,” the spokesman added.

Meanwhile, some passport applicants complain about the slowness of the passport distribution process, and they asked the directorate to solve people's challenges.

"People were facing a lot of problems, because some are sick and others have work, so they need to get a passport, and the passport directorate should cooperate with them in this regard,” Saif-ur-Rahman, a passport applicant, told TOLOnews.

"I applied for a passport online 17 months ago, but I still didn't succeed in getting one. I came to the passport office late at night and spent the whole night in the cold,” Daryoush, another passport applicant, told TOLOnews.

The 73-year-old Abdul Haq, who visited the passport office to obtain a passport so he could travel overseas for medical treatment due to a heart ailment, said that the passport office needs to address peoples’ issues.

“All of the people have problems, and we are happy with the officials of the passport department, but we ask them to address people's problems, because people come to get passports in this cold weather,” he said.

Earlier, the head of the passport directorate said that he will establish new centers in various sections of Kabul to offer more services to those applying for passports; however, there has been no update regarding the establishment of these centers.