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New and Faster Passport Service for FSM Citizens Residing in Hawaii and Guam

Palikir, Pohnpei (FSM Information Services): September 6, 2010 - FSM Citizens residing in Hawaii and Guam will now have the opportunity to apply for a passport or renew their existing one using one of the new passport issuance systems installed at the FSM Overseas Consulate Office in Hawaii or at the FSM Overseas Consulate Office in Guam. The new system should greatly facilitate and speed up processing time for passport issuances, a goal president Mori has been seeking to achieve since he began discussions on the topic with the U.S. Department of the Interior back in 2007.

A Grant Award of $88,900 from the U.S. Department of the Interior to the FSM Government was finalized on August 23, 2010, executed by Anthony Babauta, U.S. Assistant Secretary for Insular Affairs, and Yosiwo George, FSM Ambassador to the U.S., to fund the purchase and installation of these two passport issuance stations. The grant covers the purchase of two sets of HP and UPS workstations, LCD monitors, HP photo scanners and all the necessary licenses for the software; as well as the cost of training the appropriate personnel to properly operate the systems.

In order to apply or renew their passport, FSM Citizens can obtain an application form from the FSM Government website: www.fsmgov.org/forms.html. The completed application form, accompanied by the expired passport for renewal applications, and a fee of $50 for processing and standard shipping of the passport from FSM to Hawaii or Guam, all need to be submitted to the Consulate Office. For passport renewal applications, if the expired passport has been lost and is not submitted with the application, a fee of $75 will apply; the same $75 fee applies for any other changes made pursuant to a court order, such as a name change.

Once all requisite documents have been submitted, the trained Consulate Staff will be able to use the new passport workstations and scanners, which are connected directly to the application database server in Palikir, to process the passport issuance request. The new scanning system will frame, crop and enhance all captured images of not only the completed application forms, but also birth and marriage certificates, before they are instantaneously sent to the Palikir server, and also automatically sized and stored into the Consulate database.

The passport applications are then reviewed and approved for final passport printing by the officers of the FSM Immigration Central Office in Palikir. President Mori's Office is currently also looking into the best way to ensure safe and expeditious mailing of the printed passports directly back to the passport applicants, either through priority mail or courier service.