Technical challenges are behind the recent disruption in passport processing, leading to delays, says Minister for Immigration Viliame Naupoto.
In an interview with The Fiji Times, Mr Naupoto revealed that a few weeks ago, the passport printing system faced a temporary disruption due to a critical system reboot which was a necessary step to ensure data integrity.
“The system for printing passports is German-based, and the whole system had to be rebooted, which took several days,” he said.
“This reboot was crucial to avoid losing any data, and since then, the system has been running smoothly.
”The delays in passport processing were due to these communication issues between the systems, not just the shortage of blank books.
“Additionally, there’s a time difference with the German system, so our IT technicians have to work at night to coordinate with them.”
Mr Naupoto also explained that Fiji’s immigration system relied on multiple software platforms, which struggled to communicate effectively with each other.
“Our border management system comes from Sri Lanka, our passport system is from Germany, and we also have a document management system from India,” he said.
Currently, Fiji is trialling a new system called MIDAS, which will be implemented at the border.
“The challenge is that these systems need to communicate with each other, and that’s one of the main issues we’ve been dealing with,” he said.
“For example, when you apply for a passport, your data goes into the IBMS system. Then, that data needs to be transferred to the German system for printing, and once it’s printed, it should be sent back to IBMS. However, sometimes the systems don’t communicate properly, which leads to delays and wasted passport stock.”
Mr Naupoto said a single unified system would solve many issues.
“Ideally, we’d have one system, and while that would cost money, it would eliminate these communication problems,” he said.
“We’ve also looked at other countries like Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, which have a single system.
“We’ve sent staff to review their system, which seems to be working well.”