Immigration office still applying birth certificate requirement for new passports despite court ruling

Despite a court ruling nullifying the recent birth certificate requirement for passport applications, the Central Immigration and Passport Office is asking all applicants to produce birth documents issued no more than two years ago.

In June, the Ministry of Home Affairs had issued an advisory stating that persons applying for a machine readable passport for the first time were required to submit a birth certificate issued no more than six months prior to the date on which the application was being made. This advisory was later amended to two years instead of six months. However, in the interim, attorney Saphier Husain challenged the six-month requirement and acting Chief Justice Ian Chang last week made an absolute order directed to the Chief Immigration Officer, who is also Police Commissioner (ag) Seelall Persaud, quashing a decision that the attorney must produce a birth certificate issued within the last six months. Justice Chang also commanded Persaud and his agents to accept Husain’s birth certificate,