Still, given the public's reaction to the price hike, the department had to double-check that this increase was being done above board.
That process, yesterday morning, caused the passports offices countrywide to come to a brief halt.
Middleton told us what was behind it:
Gilroy Middleton, Chief Executive Officer, Immigration
"No move was made, as you note a legal opinion was sought and it was done very late last night when I returned to the country on a flight from Guatemala City, I leased with the solicitor general informing the financial secretary, informing the Governor General and asking two questions, did the Nationality and Passport department, Did the Ministry of Immigration implement these regulations properly and as a result of that this morning we held operations, they were supposed to be held for 35 minutes but it ran 45 to 15 minutes to get that cleared up to ensure that we are doing it the right way, we are doing it the legal way and that we are doing it properly."
"So as a result of that, the advice was that we did it the right way, so after that about minutes to 9:00 or around 9:00 operations resumed countrywide. So what we did for the first hour this morning was focus on issuing E-passports that were already paid for and processed and holding off in terms of accepting the new fee and doing biometrics. So that would be the state is that the new fees are legal and we are implementing them as, the legal advice is that we are doing it legally and properly."
Again the new prices on Passport applications are $200.00 for an adult passport and $150 for a child's passport.
