Claims over special passport services ‘groundless’, consular department says

Claims by middlemen that they have connections with officials that allow them to fast-track passport applications ‘are totally groundless’, the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said.
Video clips on social media suggested that the illegal service providers claimed they had husbands working at the department or links to other officials, meaning they could use these connections to speed up passport applications if applicants were willing to pay a fee.
Such claims have angered members of the public, especially those who have been queueing up outside the department each day and complying with legal procedures.
For weeks, Lao nationals have inundated the department with passport applications. Most applicants are believed to need passports for travel to Thailand for work purposes, with a surge in demand building after Laos, Thailand and other countries recently lifted all travel restrictions.  
This high demand, combined with limited service capability, has provided a loophole for middlemen to unlawfully use the opportunity for personal gain.
In light of this situation, the Consular Department recently issued a press briefing stating that no officials at the department were involved in unlawful practices.
“There is no a husband or wife of an official at the Consular Department (involved) as claimed,” the department’s Deputy Director General Sisouphanh Manivanh said in the press statement.
“Those (the middlemen) charging money from applicants have no connection with officials at the Consular Department.”
However, the department has acknowledged that there have been cases of people providing this service.
“We have tried to explore ways to address this, but it exists and is apparently escalating,” the Deputy Director General said.
The department is currently working with district and village authorities to identify wrongdoers and hold them accountable.
In addition, to speed up passport applications at the department, applicants in the provinces of Oudomxay, Xieng Khuang, Xayaboury, Khammuan, Savannakhet and Champassak and nearby provinces are being advised to submit applications at provincial offices of the six provinces.
Thousands of people across the country are submitting passport applications each day, with as many as 2,000 people successfully passing interviews every day, according to the department.
The department has admitted that the number of applications being submitted far exceeds the capacity of officials to handle them within an acceptable timeframe, so it is taking a long time to issue passports.
The process continues to be slow even though officials are working overtime and even at weekends because of the excessive number of applications, according to the department.

By Times Reporters
 (Latest Update July 17, 2022)