Gen. Simon Majur Pabek, the Director General of the Directorate of Civil Registry, Nationality, Passport, and Immigration. (Photo: Darlington Moses

The Directorate of Civil Registry, Nationality, Passport, and Immigration has announced the resumption of productions after nearly a month of system breakdown, but the operation will only prioritize the sick, students, and South Sudanese employed outside the country.

Late in August, the directorate informed the public about the technical glitch that forced it to suspend production of passport and nationality certificates—a setback that it previously experienced.

Addressing the media on Friday, Gen. Simon Majur Pabek, the head of the agency, announced the limited resumption of issuance of travel and identification documents due to commence early next week.

“We have been off production for more than three weeks. The system had a technical issue. It has been fixed, meaning the production will be okay,” he announced.

On a similar note, Gen. Pabek revealed that they have received inadequate passport booklets, which would only be handed out to people who are in desperate need of travel.

He said the few booklets will serve applicants with urgent medical referrals, students admitted for scholarships abroad, and international employees.

“I would also like to notify the public that the passports we have received are limited to the numbers who applied. We are going to limit the issuance of the passport only to students, sick people, and people employed outside the country.”

He added that diplomatic passports are currently not available and urged government officials to use special and official passports.

“I would like to inform the government officials that we currently don’t have diplomatic passports, but they should use special and official passports for diplomatic missions.”

Pabek apologized to the public for the inconveniences caused during the three-week halt in production.