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Drive to double passport output

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The Immigration Department wants to double the number of officers issuing SAR passports to cope with 160,000 applications for the travel document.

The extra staff are needed to lift the current daily output of 2,000 passports to the 4,000 target set by senior officials.

'There's a large number of applications to process and we are trying to secure resources so we can reach the target of 4,000 a day,' Immigration Department spokesman Sunny Ho Yiu-sun said.

Thousands of people queued to apply for the travel document in the weeks before the handover.

The department's strategy involved deploying staff from other sections to the passport unit, Mr Ho said.

Around 250 staff were employed processing SAR passports and the number would have to be doubled to reach the target should demand continue, he said.

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