People line up at the department of nationality, passport, and immigration in Juba. (Courtesy).

The national parliament has levied increment on the cost of passports and citizenship certificates in the recently passed Fiscal Year 2024-2025 budget despite suggestions to make civil registration affordable and accessible to citizens to combat statelessness.

The budget which has a huge deficit is littered with heavy increase in taxes, fees, and other levies across various sectors, in line with the Public Financial Management and Accountability Act (PFMAA) of 2011.

Among the proposed increases, the Specialized Committee on Finance and Economic Planning increased the fee for regular adult passports by 50% from $100 to $150, while the regular passport for minors would be at $100.

The finance committee also proposed setting the business passport fee at $300 and the fee for special, diplomatic, and official passports at $250. Identity cards and national certificates would each cost $5.

Meanwhile, individuals seeking to become South Sudanese by virtue of Naturalization by Marriage will pay $400, Naturalization by Resident Certificate will be $1,000 and Naturalization to Aliens will be $1,500.

The proposal was presented by Michael Ayuen, Chair of the Finance and Economic Planning Committee, during the third reading stage in the National Legislature which was passed.

In October, European Union’s Deputy Head of Mission in South Sudan Lothar Jasckhe encouraged the government to make nationality registration affordable and accessible to its citizens to combat statelessness.

Mr. Jasckhe – speaking in Juba at the launch of nationality documentation and mitigation of risk of statelessness – noted the incrementally high legal registration cost which an ordinary citizen can barely afford.

He urged the government to reduce the fees to enable the citizens to acquire citizenship and record their data, saying it is critical for equal resource distribution in the country.

He appeals to the government’s directorate of civil registry, nationality and passport to operationalize its systems in a way that ensures that South Sudanese are free from the risk of being stateless.