The timeframe for the processing of passports has returned to 11 weeks
The Department of Immigration has made significant improvements to the length of time taken to process British Overseas Territories Citizen passports. Previously, passports that should have been been processed in 11 weeks were, on average, taking more than 20 weeks to complete. The additional nine-week delay created severe hardships for many Bermudians whose travel and other plans were prevented.
Addressing the House of Assembly today, Minister of Economy and Labour Jason Hayward advised the members that the Department of Immigration had made several key hires, enlisting three students who were registered with the Department of Workforce Development’s Summer Employment Programme to help tackle the passport process.
The backlog was partly the result of a sharp rise in the number of passport applications in early 2022 and included several legacy applications which required additional documentation from applicants to complete.
