Apply in good time and passport will be issued – Ambassador Karran urges U.S.-based Guyanese

TIMES INT'L

By Natasha Waldron Anthony

Guyanese are not required to be physically present in Guyana to obtain the new machine-readable passports or renewals of their expired passports.

This is according to Guyana’s Ambassador to the U.S., Bayney Karran. He told Guyana Times International that Guyanese living in the U.S. who have passport needs, both renewals and new passports, must present themselves to any of the consular offices in the U.S.

He said the turnaround time between the application being processed and the document returned to the passport holder is approximately two months. “If you know you have to travel, all you need to do is apply two months in advance and you will get your passport. Where you will have a problem; where, unfortunately, a lot of people allow this problem to occur, is that (when) the passport has expired, they failed to renew it, and when they need it in an emergency, then they want you to get a passport for them in a week’s time, and that’s not possible,” the Ambassador noted. “All you have to do is apply in good time, and you will be issued with your document.”

The system is effectively in operation through the embassy in Washington D.C. and the consul offices for the process. The ambassador also said: “The arrangements in place, first of all, are designed for the protection of the passport bearer. You are going to get a document that has biometric information that is very difficult to forge. Everybody has an interest, especially the holder of the passport, that nobody else should get a passport in your name– if a passport is issued, it should be issued to you, and no one else.”

Meanwhile, there are efforts, the ambassador said, to open new consular offices in the United States, where exists a great concentration of Guyanese. In addition to the embassy in the state capital, Guyana has consulate offices in New York; Miami, Florida; Houston, Texas; and Los Angeles, California. The ambassador told this publication that the Los Angeles office has been closed, but will soon re-open after a new Consul General has been appointed.

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