‘Not true female passport applicants asked to cover up’

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Hamfatullah Syawal Hamdan

Hamfatullah Syawal Hamdan

KUCHING: The State Immigration Department has denied that all female passport applicants are required to cover their neck during photo taking for new passport application or renewal in its office in Sibu.

Upon checking with his officer in charge of the passport issuing office in Sibu, its deputy director Hamfatullah Syawal Hamdan clarified that passport applicants would only be requested to put on a shawl or blazer during photo taking, if they used light or bright coloured shirt or top.

He said this is to ensure that there is contrast when the photo is printed in black and white in the passport.

However, he said passport applicants would not be asked to cover up their neck as claimed.

“The passport that we are issuing now is in accordance with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards and the colour of the photo in the passport must be black and white.

“Therefore, there must be a contrast to differentiate the face and body in the photo. If an applicant uses a light or bright coloured shirt, we are afraid that the contrast will not be there,” he told The Borneo Post in his office here yesterday.

Syawal was responding to a complaint that a Chinese female passport holder was asked to cover up her whole neck with black clothing during photo taking when she wanted to renew her passport at the Immigration Office in Sibu.

Passport applicants will only be requested to put on a shawl or blazer during photo taking, if they use light or bright coloured shirt or top to ensure that there is contrast when the photo is printed in black and white in the passport.

Passport applicants will only be requested to put on a shawl or blazer during photo taking, if they use light or bright coloured shirt or top to ensure that there is contrast when the photo is printed in black and white in the passport.

The complainant claimed that when the applicant collected her new passport, she found that her photo turned out odd as if she had ‘black hair and black neck’.

The complainant also claimed that the same happened to other ladies who renewed their passport in Sibu.

Besides the requirement to wear dark coloured shirt or top, Syawal said passport applicants would also be required to take off their spectacles and coloured contact lens during the photo taking.

“We are following the international standards so we would like to advise the public to ensure that they wear dark coloured shirt or top if they want to renew or apply for new passport in the future.”

Meanwhile, a check by The Borneo Post at the State Immigration Department passport issuing office here yesterday noted that female passport holders were only required to put on a blazer if their top or shirt is light or bright coloured.