By Wezzie Gausi :
The Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services is said to have successfully implemented an electronic-visa (E-Visa) system in the country.
The e-Visa project was established for a three-year period under the Build Operate Transfer (BOT) arrangement, the department has revealed.
In an interview, Secretary for Homeland Security Steven Kayuni said the primary objective of the project was to ease global access to Malawi visa services.
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He said, currently, visa restrictions have been removed for travellers from 79 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, China, France and Germany.
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“Despite the success of the e-visa system, some challenges have been encountered, particularly related to payment. In response to these challenges, the department—through the Border Management Information System (BMIS) Project, where the International Organisation for Migration—is installing the migration information and data analysis system.
“They are planning to develop an e-visa [component] within the Migration Information and Data Analysis System (Midas) system. The Midas will be integrated with the Standard Bank system to ensure that payments are done online,” Kayuni said.
Commenting on the development, Parliamentary Committee on Government Assurances and Public Sector Reforms Chairperson Noel Lipipa said after visiting the offices that it was a good thing that the Immigration Department was going digital.
He said progress made by the department was something good to write home about.
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“Of course, the department has told us about the numerous challenges that they are still encountering but, as of now, there is progress in their work,” Lipipa said.
Meanwhile; the department has said the development of an integrated e-visa module is crucial as it will streamline visa processing by consolidating services into one system.
