The Liberian government has launched through its Foreign Affairs ministry a new biometric passport. The new passports are consistent with the requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for Biometric Machine Readable Passports.
According to the Passport Director Madam Tennema Deline, the categories involved are ordinary, diplomatic, official and service passports.
Madam Deline said Liberians at home cannot file in for family members abroad for the new passports.
She explained that Liberians abroad would have to go to embassies abroad or designated sites to have their passports processed.
The Passport Director added that although the new passports take effect as of April 2010, Liberians can begin applying for the forms.
April 2010 deadline is the internationally accepted deadline for all countries to begin using the biometric passports.
The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) set the passport specifications to protect against counterfeit and fraudulent identification papers, improve border security and allow faster inspection at airports around the world.
The machine-readable passport in the format specified by the ICAO became the worldwide standard as of 11 July 2005. It will be implemented by the188 contracting nations of the organization by April 2010.
Source African Press Agency
