Ethiopian citizens who hold kebele identification cards and birth certificates can now obtain a passport from the Immigration, Nationality & Vital Events Agency.

Over the past 11 months, the Agency was requiring passport applicants to present documents that prove their travel plans. The applicants had to submit documents proving that they have either been allowed to study or work overseas, hotel bookings, certificates of competence from accredited employment agencies to acquire a passport or medical documents to show they were travelling to receive treatment.

Issued on August 8, 2019, the new directive lifted this requirement, which was put in place due to the foreign currency shortage that limited the Agency from printing the passports in France. On average, the Agency spends an average of five million dollars to print passports.

The Agency, which was issuing an average of 12,700 passports daily before it passed the restriction, had downsized the number to 2,000 after the mandatory requirement.

"Now after working with the National Bank of Ethiopia, we're currently importing passports," said Desalegn Teressa, communications director at the Agency, which issued around 361,000 passports and 169,000 visas in the first three quarters of the last fiscal year.

Previously, the Agency, which operates through nine branches in Adama, Semera, Jigjiga, Hawassa, Dire Dawa, Jimma, Dessie, Bahir Dar and Meqelle, was issuing passports in seven days. But last year it was extended to 45 days following the new requirements.

Currently, it takes up to 45 days to get a passport through the normal procedure, which costs 600 Br for 32 pages and 900 Br for a 64-page passport. But, applicants can get their passport in the quicker way between three and five days after paying 2,186 Br.

However, the requirements on job seekers that travel to Middle Eastern countries are still in place and are imposed by a different law passed by the Ministry of Labour & Social Affairs.