The Foreign Ministry’s rules follow earlier passport scandals involving alleged kickbacks at Haiti’s Washington embassy and complaints about excessive charges by travel agencies.
Haiti’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Religious Affairs has introduced a new fee schedule for citizens applying for passports through Haitian embassies and consulates abroad, while prohibiting additional charges and emergency processing.
The measures were announced in a ministry circular dated October 1 and took effect October 5. Under the new schedule, an adult passport application costs $150, while applications for minors cost $125.
The ministry said diplomatic missions and consular posts may not add fees to those amounts. It also ordered them to stop offering emergency and extreme-emergency passport services, saying applications must receive equal treatment.
Officials at the missions were instructed to transfer any remaining money collected from passport fees to Haiti’s Treasury by check payable to TRÉSOR PUBLIC-DGI. They must also report to the Foreign Ministry on how they have implemented the new rules.
The changes arrive amid a history of concerns about irregular passport processing and unofficial charges. In 2023, Haiti dismissed its ambassador to the United States after investigations by Haitian and U.S. authorities into alleged corruption at the Washington embassy. A Haitian Foreign Ministry inquiry reportedly found that embassy employees had issued passports outside government controls, collected bribes to speed up applications and established outside “agencies” connected to the process. The former ambassador denied wrongdoing.
Complaints about intermediary services have also surfaced over the years. In 2013, Haiti’s Interior Ministry warned that some travel agencies were charging applicants as much as 4,000 to 5,000 gourdes to prepare paperwork and deliver passports, while the official passport fee at the time was 1,600 gourdes. That warning concerned agency service charges and was separate from the later Washington embassy investigation.
The new rules appear aimed at limiting unauthorized payments and making passport revenues easier to track. Whether the ban and reporting requirements will be consistently enforced across Haiti’s diplomatic network remains to be seen.
by the Haitian Tribune Staff
