Immigration Chief: Department Receives “Not One Cent” From Passport Fees

Sierra Leone’s Chief Immigration Officer, Dr. Moses Tiffa Baio, has revealed that the Immigration Department does not receive “one cent” from the fees citizens pay for passports, despite being responsible for the entire production and delivery chain of the document.

Speaking in a recent media interview, Dr. Baio noted that each Sierra Leonean pays the equivalent of 100 US dollars for a passport, yet none of that revenue goes to the Immigration Department or the Government of Sierra Leone. He explained that this arrangement stems from the existing contract governing passport production.

According to Dr. Baio, the agreement allocates all passport-related fees to Netpage (SL) Limited, the local partner and financier in the tripartite contract involving the Government of Sierra Leone and Thomas De La Rue, the international firm that prints the passports. He stated that this is the structure the department inherited, even though the Immigration Office handles all operational responsibilities from processing to verification and issuance.

Dr. Baio’s disclosure has reignited public interest in the long-standing contractual arrangement, particularly as the Immigration Department continues to manage the full passport workflow without receiving any revenue under the current deal.