Ethiopia lifted travel ban on 10,000 citizens
Published: 12/Juil/2024
Source: Borkena (Toronto)
Ethiopia’s Immigration and Citizenship Service on Friday held a press conference with journalists in the capital Addis Ababa to highlight performance during the budget year.
Selamawit Dawit, the Director, revealed a major change that has been undertaken this year. According to the VOA Amharic report, restrictions on over 10,000 Ethiopian Citizens not to leave the country – it was in place since 1993 – was lifted this year. The Director said the restriction on grounds of concern for national security and National Interest.
The office is also reporting a major breakthrough in terms of issuing passports. Over 1.1 million passports were issued this year. It is indicated that there had been over 350,000 pending applications.
Gossa Demissie, the Deputy Director, is quoted as saying that it is now possible to obtain a passport within two months. However, he admitted that problems are not fully addressed.
Another key revelation from the presser is that the government took measures on 18,000 immigrants who were living in the country without valid documents. Some were reportedly using fraudulent documents. Others relied on expired documents. Of these about 6,000 were reportedly deported to their country of origin. However, the office did not specify their countries of origin.
Read further: https://borkena.com/2024/07/12/ethiopia-lifted-travel-ban-on-10000-citizens/