The issue of passport change is not something new to Tajikistan. Since independence, the Tajik government required changes to internal passports three times already: first to change the Soviet passports to new internal passports that were only in Tajik language; the second time, to change the passports in Tajik into documents with details also in the Russian language and with black and white photographs; and just before the law about the mandatory foreign passports for travel abroad, the new Somoni internal passports were introduced, which were exactly the same as the previous passports, except for having a serial number written on all pages. In addition to that, Tajiks must now change their internal passports at the ages of 25 and 40. Since the change of an old passport to a new one is not free, it is alleged that this is a way of to line the coffers of the government budget.

The new international passports have two more complicated issues connected with them. The first is the price of US$35 if one applies through the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), US$100 if one applies through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and US$65 if one applies through Tajikistan’s embassies in the countries of the EEC. The second, more complicated issue concerns only the male population and it is the prerequisite of serving two years in the army for getting the foreign passport.

Despite the prerequisites for these new passports, those that have all their documents ready still face many obstacles. The biggest problem is the poor facilities in the MIA, MFA, and OVIR (visa and registration department), including insufficient computers, scheduled electricity, poor communications, etc. As a matter of fact, about 350 legally issued international passports turned out to be forged with watermarks missing on some pages. Since most Tajiks that apply for foreign passports are migrant workers in Russia, those unfortunate enough to get passports without watermarks were forced by Russian customs officials to fly back to Dushanbe. This meant that they did not only lose their airfare, but also had to wait another month for their passports to be changed, with additional payments. There were cases in Bishkek when Tajik students studying at various universities in Kyrgyzstan applied for passports through the Embassy of Tajikistan and after two months of waiting received their passports with the photo attached crookedly and outside the permitted square. In addition, the brightness of the print depends on how well one is related to the issuing agents, because in most of the passports the details are gray and hard to read. These small details might seem of little consequence to officials in Tajikistan, but they make a big difference when one passes through malevolent custom officials at home and abroad.

On the subject of customs, it is worth highlighting that Tajikis do not only have problems at home; in fact, most of the problems concerning the change of passports began at the border crossing points of the five concerned countries before January 1, 2005, when the policy was officially to be enforced. For example, Kazakh customs officials at the border between Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan demanded that two Tajik students traveling from Bishkek to Almaty to take a TOEFL exam in December 2004 produce foreign passports. One of the students noted that: “Had we not insisted our rights and proved that the international passports are to be mandatory only from the beginning of 2005, we would have been either turned back or forced to pay a bribe. Tajiks traveling abroad are usually not only the victims of customs but also disadvantaged in most situations. In airports, they are afraid to miss their flight if they follow the customs official to the custom house for disputing a problem; and when traveling by road, they are afraid that their bus or taxi will not wait; therefore, they choose to pay.

It is clear that the Tajik government has failed to bring about a suitable process for applying and receiving passports, to ensure that all passports are being printed and issued properly, to have affordable pricing, and to make passports available to the people with reasonable waiting times. Certainly, customs officials will have always find faults, especially for citizens of Tajikistan, but the government should not make life more difficult for its citizens than it already is.