INTERNATIONAL PASSPORTS GALORE

MBABANE – In the absence of travel documents, pupils as young as those in primary school now own international passports.

For, four weeks, the Immigration Department has been without enough travel documents. This pinch has not only been felt by adults who wish to travel outside the country’s borders, but school-going children who will be going for educational trips to neighbouring countries have also encountered the problem.

However, since their trips are during the weekend, while some are next week, the pupils have been turned back and told to return with letters from their schools, stating the date and the reason for the trip.
Once the sense of urgency is felt in the letters, the pupils would then be allowed to apply for international passports to use for trips to South Africa.

Nonetheless, what was the concern to some was the fact that they felt the Immigration officers sounded unsure of when the travel documents would be available, as they were turned back several times before being told to return on certain days to check. This did not only cost them time but money as well, since some were from Manzini.

One pupil from St Michael’s High School said she came to Mbabane to apply for a travel document about two weeks ago and was turned back after being told that she needed a letter from the school with information of the trip to Durban.
The pupil said she only returned yesterday because she had been writing exams in the past two weeks.

However, even after returning with the required letter, she still could not get assistance as she was told to check again sometime next week when the actual date of leaving is closer. The school trip is said to be billed for next week Saturday.

The disappointed scholar, who was accompanied by an elder, said she was not sure when she would return to check whether the travel documents were available but expressed hope to return when reports of availability are made. She said she hopes this will be before the day of the trip.

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