Kurdistan opens new passport directorate in Soran to improve access

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The interior ministries of the Kurdistan Region and the Federal Government of Iraq on Monday inaugurated a new passport directorate in Erbil province’s Soran district.

Soran district is home to about 120,000 people, who previously had to travel over 100 kilometers to Erbil to submit paperwork for a travel document. The trip was both time-consuming and costly for residents of Soran, and the new office in their main population center now expedites the process.

“We are pleased to open the Soran district passport-issuing directorate,” Interior Minister Rebar Ahmed said at a conference held with Erbil Governor Firsat Sofi and a representative of the Federal Ministry of Interior.

He added that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) “made great efforts to open this directorate, and there was cooperation from the Federal Ministry of Interior in this regard.”

Ahmed also thanked Iraqi Interior Minister Yasin al-Yasiri and the federal government for their assistance.

The KRG Minister affirmed that Erbil had been engaged in efforts to open four such offices as per a directive from Prime Minister Masrour Barzani to provide the necessary service for citizens in the Kurdistan Region.

At the inauguration ceremony, Ahmed directly handed two freshly minted passports to two citizens from Soran.

For his part, governor Sofi affirmed during the conference that the opening of the directorate would spare residents of Soran the trouble of traveling, including the cost of travel and avoiding possible traffic accidents as they drive in harsh conditions between Erbil and Soran.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany