Mozambique: Official documents can now be issued – Watch

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Mozambique: Official documents can now be issued – Watch

1:39 CAT | 18 Aug 2020

Photo: Miramar

As from Monday, the issuing of official documents started (almost) across the country. The Identification and Migration services say that the resumption of document issuing is proceeding normally. Meanwhile, the Migration Service [SENAMI] says that, in the first phase, only documents such as DIRE and temporary visas will be issued, to foreigners.

Installing taps and placing markings on waiting benches are some of the measures already put in place by the state entities responsible for issuing official documents to guarantee the resumption of activities. Nevertheless, this reality is not uniform across the country.

“We are not going to resume in the whole country. We have the case of Nampula, which did not start due to organisational issues, and we are still in the process of preparing for the start of activities. We believe that, by Wednesday, we will start activities. In the south, including the province of Manica, we started in all districts. The same did not happen in some districts in the centre and north which, unfortunately did not start,” spokesman for the National Directorate of Civil Identification [DIC], Alberto Simbine, said.

“We hope that in these places activities will start next Monday. We understand that each service counter has its own specificities. At the central level, we recommend that each of our counters observes all possible recommendations, from the use of masks, alcohol, visors, soap and water and buckets so that we do not have Covid-19 cases,” Simbine detailed.

DIC says that it will not tolerate bad behaviour in queues, and will take extreme measures if this happens. “We do not want our institution to be the focus of contamination with this disease. Because we are aware that during the work, documents will pass from hand to hand, we train our employees to constantly disinfect their hands. We will control the queues so that the social distancing is obeyed. If the recommendations are not obeyed and there are no working conditions, we may choose to close the service post,” Simbine warned.

The Migration services say that conditions have been created only for the issuing of the DIRE and the temporary visa.

“This means that, in a first phase, it does not include resuming the issuance of passports for nationals. These documents will only be issued in exceptional cases, after authorisation by the Minister of the Interior. Which means that the national citizen who has an exceptional situation and wants to obtain this document must request the issuance of the passport from the Minister of the Interior,” Celestino Matsinhe said.

“We have noticed situations of citizens who present themselves at crossing points with only travel authorisation and without the DIRE corresponding to the reason for the trip. We want to say that, once the travel authorisation is obtained, these citizens must go to the diplomatic and consular mission to request the visa corresponding to the reason for their trip to Mozambique. If, for example, the foreign citizen intends to come to Mozambique to work, after obtaining the work permit, that person must go to the diplomatic and consular mission to apply for the work visa. Without these documents, entry will not be permitted.”

The resumption of the issuance of documents is in compliance with number 3 of Article 12 of Presidential Decree No. 69/2020 of 11 August, which guides the issuance of official documents, namely: Identity Cards, Driving Licences, Identification Cards and Residency Cards [DIREs] for foreigners and temporary visas, as well as entry notes for the import of motor vehicles.

By Raúl Massingue