New Biometric Passport: Travel Document to be delivered in 48hours
The Secretary General of the General Delegation for National Security, (DGSN) Dominic Baya, has announced new biometric passports will henceforth be produced and delivered to applicants in 48 hours after submission of required documents.
He told media practitioners on Tuesday, June 8 during a press conference to present the new procedure for the production of biometric passports in Cameroon.
The new passports will be produced by the INCM-AUGENTIC consortium with whom the DGSN signed a contract on September 17, 2020, on the instructions of the Head of State , Paul Biya.
The INCM-AUGENTIC -DGSN Contract
Following the new procedure, the Secretary General said Cameroon will have “a modern, reliable and highly secured production system capable of fully meeting the requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization, (ICAO)”.
The INCM-AUGENTIC Consortium will make use of the Build -Operate-Transfer (BOT) for a period of 10 years before transferring the system to the state of Cameroon.
According to provisions of the contract, INCM-AUGENTIC will
-finance the entire project
-construct and equip buildings and the enrollment centers
-Deploy the new system in all national sites and diplomatic missions of Cameroon
-train DGSN staff on the management of the system
-Renew all material and equipment in the ninth year of operation before transferring the system to the state of Cameroon
Passport production process
Enrollment for passports will henceforth be done online. The new procedure also comes with an online payment system via credit cards, Mobile or Orange money. The new biometric passport will cost FCFA 110,000.
To render the process more secure, authorities have decided to personalize images through laser engraving.
Accordingly, the new biometric passports will be produced and delivered to applicants 48 hours after submission of required documents.
The new production system, is equipped with machines that have a daily production of 1500 passports in normal production and 2200 passports in optimal production.
The issuance procedure will take place in four stages
– online pre-enrollment through the DGSN Website from an android phone or internet cafe
– Enrollment in the center chosen by applicant which requires the physical presence of the applicant
– Passport production ; all data of passport applicants will be securely transferred to the sever of the production centre in real time.
– Collection of passports ; a notification email and text message will be sent to applicant for subsequent collection of produced passport.
When will new biometric passports be produced ?
According to DGSN authorities, the passport production system had to be commissioned at the end of March 2021, but enrollment and production equipment were not delivered on time, owing to the economic and industrial slowdown during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The authorities say the new production system for the new biometric passports will be commissioned on July 1, 2021. Enrollment will begin in all Emi-immigration police stations and Diplomatic missions on the same date.
In the meantime, Emi-Immigration stations will continue receiving enrollments till June 23rd 2021, but Diplomatic Missions will stop enrollments on June 15 to prevent transmission delays. The current passport production system will not be interrupted.
Kathy Neba Sina