BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – FOLLOWING Canada’s November 22 imposition of visa requirements for nationals of St. Kitts and Nevis and holders of the Federation’s passports to enter the North American country, the Federal Government will be replacing free of cost all passports that do not reflect the holders’ place of birth and or name changes.
This is according to Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas, who made the disclosure today (Dec. 3) at his Monthly Press Conference.
The Prime Minister said that rules on international travelling are ever-evolving and countries have the right to determine who would enter their territory, which St. Kitts and Nevis respects.
He noted that only certain categories of holders of the biometric passport would be affected by the change.
“Persons holding St. Kitts-Nevis machine readable passports issued before January 2012 are in no way affected by this statement. All persons holding St. Kitts-Nevis e-passports issued between January 2010 and July 2014 will have those passports replaced at no cost to the passport holder by the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis.”
Dr. Douglas informed that at the beginning of February this year all name changes were displayed in St. Kitts-Nevis e-passports, while those issued from the beginning of July, also of this year, had the holders’ place of birth displayed in them.
“The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis is now moving to ensure that all St. Kitts-Nevis passports display both place of birth and name changes. And to expedite this process, the St. Kitts-Nevis Government will be issuing all e-passports which do not display either place of birth and or name changes; adhering to the highest standards of quality assurance and security checks, the PM said.
Dr. Douglas declared that the re-issuance of the e-passports would take place between December 10, 2015 and January 31 next year and that a Canadian company would be employed as a technical consultant for the process.
‘Holders of e-passports in which place of birth and or name changes are not printed, are asked to submit their current passports and relevant application forms to any of the reception centres that have already been publicised by the Government,” he advised.
PM Douglas however warned that effective January 31, 2015, any passport not submitted for replacement would be invalidated.
“The protection of our country and its people in all areas and in all ways has always been and will always be the number one priority of this Government. We will continue to work with regional and international governments to ensure the advancement of our individual and collective national security interests,” he stressed.
Dr. Douglas however could not at the time say what cost would be incurred for replacement of these passports.
