‘One day’ service for the issuing of Passports will commence in three more districts from Monday (04), Minister of Investment Promotion Dhammika Perera announced today.

Minister Perera said that the one day service will commence at the Department of Immigration and Emigration branch offices in Matara, Kandy, and Vavuniya.

Earlier, Dhammika Perera said as the Minister in charge of the Department of Immigration and Emigration he intends to open five more branch offices in Sri Lanka.

Speaking during an interview with a local media, the Minister said that currently, the branch offices in Kandy and Matara do not offer the one-day passport service, while the Kurunegala office does not possess the required printing machine.

He said due to these reasons, people from those areas travel to Colombo and wait for several days to obtain their passports through the one-day service programme from the Colombo office.

Stating that the President had pointed out the need to open five more branch offices of the Immigration and Emigration Department, Minister Dhammika Perera said he will open the first office in Jaffna using his own funds.

“Calling for tenders will take six months or more. So I will open the first branch office in Jaffna using my own money,” he said.

The Minister further said he will look at obtaining donations to open the remaining offices or use his own money for it in order to fast-track the process of sending Sri Lankan migrant workers overseas. (NewsWire)