Passports and minors

I refer to the contribution entitled The Permit, The Pipe And The Passport by Marisa Micallef (October 26). I am also limiting my reply to the part of the article which refers to passports.

Children's passports are not renewed every two years but only those under 10 years of age have to renew every two years. And this is not something new but has been like that for ages. Children between 10 and 16 years are obliged to renew their passport every five years.

Moreover, passports should be collected personally by applicants. For minors, it is normal for one of the children's parents/carers to go personally to the Passport Office and collect the passport on behalf of the minor. The main reason for this is to prevent possible abduction of minors - something which did happen here in Malta!

May I inform one and all that since the year 2000 the Passport Office has adopted very accommodating opening hours and on Wednesdays it remains open till 6 p.m. while it opens on Saturday from 7.30 till 11 a.m. So there is no problem for working people to go and pick up their own passports and that of minors.

In this particular case there was a problem with signature of parents as the applicant is separated. Earlier, the Passport Office received a letter from applicant's lawyer, asking public officers to be aware of false signatures in the issue of a passport of the applicant's offspring. This explains why she had to call at Passport Office before the new passport was issued.

The second paragraph of that part of the article dealing with passports is not clear at all and also contradictory. First, the correspondent writes that the Passport Office told her "the passport was ready" and in the sentence before last she says that the receptionist had been telling her for half an hour that the passport was not ready. Which version is correct?

Regarding the "flying passport in a government building" it should be said that the passport was "dropped" one storey to save this particular client from going up a flight of stairs or take the lift up. A bit unconventional but very effective.

Every time a client calls at Passports to apply for a new one or renew a passport, clients are invariably informed that the passport will be ready in four working days' time - which is very efficient compared to other countries. The application for a passport also clearly indicates this period of time.