People holding Lebanese passports. (Credit: AFP file)
BEIRUT — General Security will not receive biometric passport requests on Fridays during the month of Ramadan, it said in a statement Wednesday.
After a disruption that lasted several months, General Security management resumed receiving applications for biometric passports on Jan. 17 in all its regional centers and the Public Relations Department.
Due to the spike in Lebanese passport applications in 2019, General Security began to issue non-biometric passports.
Lebanon's economic crisis has increased the demand for passports as people seek to leave the country. Last April, General Security announced that dwindling supplies of passports available, even as requests for new documents increased tenfold over the previous two years.
An online platform launched in response did little to stem the tide of new applications, with appointments granted months in the future. Severe electricity outages and fuel shortages forced many people to wait for hours, sometimes overnight, to apply for or receive their passports.