Myanmar opens new passport offices countrywide

  | January 11, 2014  

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Myanmar citizens can now apply for and directly receive passports at 15 locations around the country. Previously the country had only one passport office, in Yangon, The Irrawaddy reported.

The government opened new passport offices last week on Friday due to an increasing number of applicants who required the document for work or medical reasons. 
Last year the government began taking steps to streamline the application process, reducing the waiting period from 21 days to 10 days to receive a passport. Application forms were condensed from 14 pages to five pages, while applicants were no longer required to submit documents proving they had fully paid their taxes.

With the new offices in states and divisions, applicants pay 20,000 kyats (US$20) in Yangon for a passport and 25,000 kyats ($25) at other locations, due to extra processing fees. Passports are valid for five years and may be issued within three to five working days in certain cases, such as medical emergencies.
But former prisoners, including political detainees, must present additional documents and may be subjected to longer waiting periods, a senior official at the Myanmar Passport Issuing Board said.
Last year the Ministry of Labour announced plans to issue regular passports to Myanmar migrants in Thailand. Since 2009, the Burma government has issued only temporary passports to them.
An estimated 3 million Burmese migrants reside in Thailand. Of these, about 1.7 million have been issued temporary passports, while1.3 million are undocumented, according to labor rights groups.
The Myanmar government has set up five offices in Thailand near the Burma border to issue regular passports, but the offices have not been opened due to ongoing political instability in Thailand.