Demand for passport service hike as school holidays approach

People applying for passports have significantly increased as the school holidays approach.

Maldives Immigration’s Spokesperson Mifthah Mohamed told Sun on Monday that an increase in passport applications has been noticed since last week.

“We are receiving over 300 applications daily,” he added.

However, passport services will only be provided during official working hours despite the increase in demand.

Immigration usually issues approximately 160 passports daily. With the increase in demand, they have begun issuing over 280 passports daily.

A similar increase in demand for passport services was observed during last year’s school holidays as well – with Immigration issuing over 800 passports daily.

The increase in demand for passport service prompted Immigration to extend provide the service during additional hours and non-working days.