Goznak: 10-year foreign passports issuance halted on higher demand

MOSCOW, Feb 2 (PRIME) -- Russia has suspended the acceptance of applications for biometric foreign passports because of increased demand for them and for the chips used in their production, state producer of banknotes, coins and passports Goznak said on Thursday.

According to an announcement on state service portal Gosuslugi, it temporarily stopped accepting applications for biometric foreign passports from Thursday.

Goznak said, “In recent months Goznak has been receiving an increased volume of applications for personalization of foreign passports which led to a significant rise in demand for the chips that are embedded in a passport page.”

Goznak also said that Russian chip maker Mikron “is now readjusting the equipment and optimizing the technological processes to be able to meet demand in the mentioned chips in the future.” “We expect that after the work is completed the schedule of production and personalization of foreign passports will be restored within a month,” Goznak added.

The Industry and Trade Ministry said that the production of electronic components for foreign passports has not been suspended, shipments of new batches is being carried out and Mikron is raising their volume.

“According to information from the producer, the readjustment of certain processes was needed to meet multiplied demand,” the ministry said, adding that the work “is already being finished.”

Mikron confirmed the information saying that “we faced the need to adjust the schedule of production and supplies of our electronic components because of a multiplied number of customers and orders.”

“We are working in an intensified mode, readjusting the technological process to meet increased demand and to introduce new Russian materials. We have already shipped more than 100,000 chips since the start of the year,” Mikron said.

Biometric foreign passports are valid during 10 years and have a microchip with the information about their owner and biometrics, including fingerprint scans.

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