Since 2015, the service provider for the production Sierra Leone E- Passport, Netpage SL Ltd, has been complying with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) new book design that was launched to examine the quality and standards of passport all over the world.
SierraLeone passport had been switched from Machine Readable Passport(MRP) to E- passport in recent times and that was done in line with international standards. However, Netpage SL Ltd, through the support of the government of Sierra Leone and international partners, HID Global, has recently upgraded the Sierra Leone passport to e-passport by giving its a new security features and higher grade chip which has the passport in the map in terms of quality and standards as was revealed by Henley and partners.
Since the upgrade of SierraLeone’s passport, the processing of biometric data for users of the e- passport has become easier.
The E-passport has a standardize outlook and high grade security features which has helped to move the Sierra Leone passport 10 places upwards in terms of ratings as it secures 74th place in 2023 making it to stand tall among other countries in the World and in Africa, with Cote D’Ivoire taking second in the sub-region with 79th place, while Guinea and Liberia are ranked 80 and 87 places respectively.
Since the award of passport contract to Netpage SL, the company has proved its competency, efficiency and effectively to always be in compliance with the spirit and letter of contractual agreemenst signed between them and the Government of Sierra Leone.
To prove that Netpage is up to the task, the company is in the process of opening their service centres in Bo, Makeni, United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
Meanwhile, the official price to acquire a passport is Two Thousand Two Hundred Leones (100 US dollars), and it is in line with the Bank of SierraLeone foreign exchange rates.
Before now, Parliament and some Civil Society Organizations, has thoroughly investigated Netpage operations – especially on their contractual agreement with the government of Sierra Leone – and have proven the company compliance with all contractual protocols which has led the company to enjoy the legitimacy to operate.
