Passport Fees Could Go Up To $1 000

Passport fees will likely go up to $1 000 following Registrar-General Clemence Masango’s request set the new price to the equivalent of US$53 dollars at the interbank exchange rate.

Masango raised the issue during a tour of the Central Registry by Home Affairs minister Kazembe Kazembe on Monday. Masango had this to say:

US$53 is what was approved and that is what can easily enable us to provide a service, bearing in mind that not every applicant paid US$53.

We have seen people who require their passport in three days and they paid US$253 at that time; and those who want it within 24 hours US$318.

So these two will help meet us halfway and achieve a win-win with those paying US$53. So if we are to get a review, we must get a review of not less than US$53 equivalent at the prevailing bank rate.

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Reports indicate that in South Africa a passport costs R400 while in Botswana it costs P1 260. Further afield, in Britain,  a passport costs £72,50 (US$91) while in the United States of America, it costs US$110 for the first passport a person receives.

The government of Zimbabwe has failed to provide passports for all applicants over the past several months with the backlog now at over 300 000.

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