The department of Immigration and Citizenship Services in Lilongwe, has intensified sensitization campaigns with an aim of bridging information gap between the department and service seekers.
According to public relations officer for the central region immigration office, Inspector Pasqually Zulu, the sensitization campaign was held on Tuesday 2nd August.
Inspector Zulu said through the campaign, the department wanted to as well get common needs by service seekers, a development which he said might help the department to improve service delivery.
Through the campaign the department outlined some of its principal services which include travel documents, citizenship, visas and permits processing and not forgetting apprehension, prosecution, deportation and repatriation of illegal immigrants.
The service seekers were also reminded that as a department, it believes in transparency and accountability, as such all service seekers have right to freely access public information relating to distinct service they have applied for.
“So, all customers have been reminded what we offer as a department and have also been notified on the obligation they have to the department, which include patience, treating our staff politely, providing our staff with accurate information, etc,” said Zulu.
Inspector Zulu indicated that customers were also cautioned on making travel arrangements when travel documents are not ready saying doing so forces one to think of offering bribes to officials so as to speed up the process, a practice which he said should not be tolerated.
Furthermore, foreign nationals residing in Malawi were also advised not to engage in any employment or business activity before their permit have been approved and says failure to comply risks deportation.
Meanwhile, the department is appealing to the general public to refrain from aiding and abetting illegal immigrants arguing that it posse as a threat to the national security and social economic development.
Since January this year, the Regional Immigration Office in Lilongwe, has managed to process close to 9667 passport applications and also managed to deport close to 40 illegal immigrants for violating various Immigration laws.
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