The US ambassador to Libya expressed concern in April last year about reports from the Maltese Embassy, one of the busiest visa-issuing countries in Libya, that it had identified genuine Libyan passports issued with erroneous data.
According to a cable made public by Wikileaks, Libyan passports include a note if the passport is a replacement for an older passport. This notation, however, could be "forgotten" if the prior passport would reveal inconvenient truths about the applicant's travel history, the ambassador was told.
"This calls the integrity of the Libyan passport as an identity document into question. Post is not aware of any trend in alteration of Libyan passports. The passport agency and civil registry began the process of "correcting" the last names of Libyan citizens, many of whom, as is common in the Arab world, use an ancestor's first name as their last name," ambassador Gene A. Cretz wrote.
He said that Libyan documents were generally unsophisticated, featuring few, if any, security features, and the embassy had heard reports that genuine documents with apocryphal information were obtainable from the authorities, possibly for a fee, but also through family connections.
In addition, the government was extremely reluctant to share or confirm information about its citizens with the embassy, which limited its ability to conduct investigations. Further to this, the government required all law-enforcement related inquiries to proceed through only one designated host government security service point of contact.
He said that little conventional fraud involving presentation of false documents had been seen. However, there were cases where it was suspected that applicants were using their personal connections to obtain a genuine diplomatic note to get a visa for personal travel, and avoid fees and interviews.
"We have confirmed with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in all of these cases that the diplomatic notes are genuine, and have issued the visas in accord with the request. We continue to follow up in these cases to ensure that the applicants in question return to Libya, but have seen no new instances of overstays. one stayed far longer than his putative job as a diplomatic courier could possibly require.
"While Libya is a transit and destination country both for economic migrants and victims of trafficking, especially from sub-Saharan Africa to Europe, it is not a center for the production of false documents. Traffickers and smugglers operating in Libya tend to focus on providing boat travel to Europe for migrants, who often seek asylum on arrival. Libya does have vast borders in the Sahara which are extremely difficult to police. Estimates indicate that 1.5-2m irregular (illegal) migrants are present here but live outside Libyan mainstream society.