All citizens who currently use the older version of Antigua & Barbuda passports have been put on notice that the travel document will become out-of-date by year-end, and are therefore being advised to apply for the new machine-readable passports in the upcoming months. Minister of National Security and Labour Senator Dr Errol Cort made this disclosure during his presentation on the 2011 Budget Debate in the Upper House, saying that continued use of the outdated passports is now a security concern.
“We’ve since moved to a machine-readable passport,” Dr Cort said. “We still have some ordinary passports out there being used by individuals, so I want to say, Madam President, that we’re allowing those individuals up to December of 2011 to come in and convert their old passports into machine readable passports. After December of 2011, you will not be able to use the ordinary passports for travelling because it presents a security risk.”
He further advised that those affected need not make a run on the office. “We’re giving everybody a whole year to make that conversion. I don’t want them all to just come in a sudden flow. Take your time, but you have a year to come and deal with your machine-readable passport. And bring your documents so that we can verify and ensure that you are the proper recipient,” Dr Cort said.
The minister also told the Senate that since the Passport Office became fully computerised in 2007, all necessary documents required to accompany new passport applications are scanned and stored in the system’s database for future reference.