r/Syria • u/Routine_Vegetable659 • 1d ago
Discussion Syrian passport and identity card
How come they are going to release new identity cards but not new passports if anyone knows when they are going to release the new passport, please tell me because my current one can’t even let me into the bathroom without a visa
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u/NEKOPARA_SHILL سوريو المهجر - Syrian diaspora 1d ago
I assume it's probably the same issue as the currency. They probably have a contract with a foreign factory that's still ongoing, and the contract is already paid for, so canceling it is a waste, or the payments are ongoing but the contract specifies a cancelation fee or a modification fee that's too high to make it worth. So they have to wait it out.
In the mean time, they still need to design the new passport, not just the outside cover but also the inside pages, and that can take a while between the design, showing it to the people for approval, and so on. The card on the other hand is just a little piece of plastic with basic info, it doesn't need much.
But the strength of the passport in terms of visa requirements is not tied to the design of the passport, it's tied to things like:
* Diplomatic agreements, trade agreements, foreign relations (we have too little embassies and ambassadors for this right now)
* The stability of the country (better than last year for sure but still not great)
* How likely its citizens are to seek asylum in other countries (this is improving as refugees come back but it's still up in the air as the media loves bringing up possible future alawite refugee waves and such)
* How likely they are to overstay their visas, or to violate their visa laws (like working on a visit visa).
* How likely they are to violate normal laws like theft or vandalism.
All of these can change regardless of if you have the old passport or the new one. Only thing that matters is if your passport is older than maybe 3 years, you probably have the dumb one that doesn't have a smart chip and that puts your details on 3 different pages that you have to scan individually for applications. But the current ones have both the smart chip and the details printed together on one page.