More than 259,000 visas are issued in Ethiopia in three months

The Ethiopian Immigration and Citizenship Service has announced that it has issued visas to 259,705 visitors in the last three months.

Director General Selamawit Dawit outlined the performance, noting that the service facilitated the entry and exit of more than 1.1 million travellers via air and land routes. This is a significant increase from the same quarter last year, indicating a positive trend in the number of visitors to Ethiopia, as reported by ENA, a partner of TV BRICS.

Selamawit attributed the growth mainly to the increased flow of travellers to Addis Ababa, reporting that Bole International Airport handled 559,848 arrivals and 581,704 departures during the same period.

The official launch of the E-passport system is scheduled for January. "We have initiated the trial phase for e-passports, and by January, we aim for a full launch of the service, marking a significant milestone in enhancing the passport issuance process," said the Director General.

In addition, the service said that passports issued to citizens aged 25 and above will now have a validity period of 10 years, in line with new operational guidelines. 

Earlier, Ethiopia's Immigration and Citizenship Service (ICS) has announced the start of the pre-registration and verification phase for the Electronic Passport.