The General Directorate of Passports said that they will begin accepting in-person applications for passports on Wednesday (January 10).

According to the head of the directorate, the decision was made to provide further facilities for people to get passports.

“Twenty people from a single family come and submit online applications and receive their passports. But when someone needs an urgent passport, he cannot get it urgently because he has to submit his application online and wait for the system to process, this delay has created problems,” said Abdul Karim Hasib, head of the General Directorate of Passports.

People criticized the time-consuming process of getting passports, claiming that they must wait for months to receive a passport. People in Kabul ask the relevant authorities to increase the number of centers issuing passports.

“It has been one year since I submitted my online application for passports but the process has not been completed yet. We ask the government to address the issue because I want to apply for educational visa,” said Rafiullah a Kabul resident.

“We ask for the applications to be processed in a timely way because people need passports, especially those who are sick, it is also a challenge for those who want to go abroad for education and work,” said another Kabul resident.

Earlier, the head of the directorate told TOLOnews that new centers of passports issuance would be opened in Kabul in the upcoming months.