By Jay Forte, Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Mint of Brazil (CMB), which produces passports for the country, announced on Friday, July 21st, that the service will be reinstated after being suspended by the Federal Police (PF) since the end of June.
During the suspension period, 175,000 passport applications have been postponed, according to the PF, and will now be processed in chronological order and should take up to five weeks to catch up.
In a statement, the Mint informed that it received the files with data from people requesting passports yesterday afternoon and that the manufacturing will be resumed immediately, with extra shifts from the beginning of next week.
“By understanding the importance of the urgent normalization of the service, CMB will work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, starting Monday [July 24th], with extra costs to meet all requests made by citizens at DPF during the days of suspension,” says the institution’s note.
The issue of passports was interrupted on June 27th for lack of funding. At the time it was reported that the federal police had exhausted its budget for immigration control and travel documents.
“The suspension of passport issuance is perhaps the most visible aspect of the dismantling the federal police is suffering,” the police association said in a statement.
Now the Justice Ministry reported that it approved an extra credit of R$102 million to the Federal Police to regularize the service.
Meanwhile it has been reported that in May the Temer Administration authorized more than R$15 billion worth of funds for amendments sponsored by lawmakers who voted to dismiss legal charges against the President.