Skopje, 3 July 2024 (MIA) - Interior Minister Panche Toshkovski announced Wednesday that the process for issuing passports is expected to be fully normalized within the next two months, with the goal of reducing the waiting time for citizens to within the legal 15-day period.

In an interview with Telma TV, Toshkovski stated that the waiting period for travel documents used to be up to 80 days from the time of photographing to issuance, but this period has now been significantly shortened.

He pointed out that around 400,000 passports have been issued in the past five months, a task that previously required up to two years to complete.

“The fact is that the numbers we have achieved in these four months are equivalent to what previously took two years or more. In just four months, we have managed to photograph and issue more than 400,000 passports,” Toshkovski.

Toshkovski highlighted that the issuance of travel documents through expedited procedures has been restored to the standard processing time of 48 hours.

He announced that future plans include developing a software solution that will make the procedures easier, allowing citizens to obtain multiple documents from a single photograph and application, unlike the current system where each personal document, travel document, or driving licence requires separate photographs.

Photo: Telma