Three Syrian consulates suspend extending Syrian nationals’ passports and travel documents without offering any explanation or justification.
The regime consulate in Istanbul and its embassies in Amman and Khartoum announced that they are suspending their passport extension services for all Syrian nationals residing in these countries. Turkey and Jordan alone host around 3.7 million Syrian refugees, many of whom are seeking to renew their passports.
According to observers, the regime consulate in Istanbul announced that the decision to suspend extending passports was “final” while the embassy in Amman said that the suspension is effective until “until further notice.”
The regime embassy in Khartoum made a similar announcement stating that it “suspends the receipt of transactions for extending passports and travel documents permanently from the end of the official working hours on Sunday April 23, 2017, until further notice.”
Other regime embassy sites especially in Lebanon and Manama did not mention any issue regarding the extension of passports at the time of writing.
Speaking to Zaman al-Wasl, a Syrian national who consulted the regime consulate in Istanbul on Monday said that a consular officer informed the Syrian nationals waiting in front of the consulate building that they have received instructions from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants to stop giving extension stickers. The consulate used the extension stickers to renew expired passports for two years. The speaker confirmed that new decisions will be issued soon to solve the problem.
He pointed out that dozens of Syrians were forced to pay up to 150 US Dollars to brokers dealing with embassy staff to obtain a date to extend their passport. The sudden cancellation of the processes means these Syrians lost the sums they paid and the possibility of renewing their passports.
The regime consulate in Istanbul had announced on its official website that it would begin working with an electronic registration system as of December 05, 2016. Many Syrians wanting to renew their passports complained that booking an appointment on the appointment registration system is almost impossible because the available appointments go within seconds of the system opening. As a result, many Syrians have been forced to pay brokers to ensure they obtain a renewal or extension appointment. A single appointment may cost up to 150 US Dollars and applicants must pay this in addition to the fees for renewing or extending their passports
