In contrast to the current passport, which is filled in by hand, the new passport is designed with the application of the latest technology. In an interview to IRIN, the Program Coordinator of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Kyrgyzstan Bermet Moldobaeva said that the new document has several layers of seal, a special dye, personal data imprinted on laminated covering, a machine-readable code, a digital photographic image of the holder and special paper with watermarks. The International Organization for Migration has been providing technical assistance to the Kyrgyz government in developing the new passport infrastructure in the country.

A tender conducted last year among several companies for the production of new Kyrgyz passports resulted in contracting a Moldovan Company. A specially formed government commission initially claimed that the new document would be issued in June 2004. However, the issue date was later postponed to September and then to November. “The IOM was concerned that in July 2004, the printing department was ready and the issuing of passports could have started at the beginning of August without any problems”, IWPR quotes the IOM Manager of the passport project Michael Chance as saying.

Such a delay, according to unofficial reports, was caused by a long-drawn and vehement strife between certain state structures. Traditionally the Ministry of Internal Affairs was the government body responsible for the issuing of passports, which is widely believed to be a corruption-prone sphere. Under the new regulations and new passport system, a special state entity – the State Agency for Information Resources and Technologies – was formed, which would deal with all the passport-related matters including issuing of passports, whereas the MIA would play a secondary role of assisting the new agency in gathering passport applications. After prolonged battles the MIA has reportedly re-conquered its passport-issuing right. However, no official statement has been made yet and it is still unclear which of these two state structures will be responsible for the passport system.

In December 2004, the new passports were issued, but this event generated additional fury among parliamentarians and more confusion among the population. Kyrgyz parliamentarians claim that the new passports were printed with gross errors. Some say that the main symbol of Kyrgyzstan – the golden eagle – looks like a chicken, others add that this chicken lacks feathers. Angered deputies have formed a parliamentary commission to investigate the circumstances leading up to the crisis and some have even raised the issue of dismissing government officials for negligence.

Following the on-going debates, the Kyrgyz government headed by Prime-Minister Nikolai Tanaev on 25 January passed a resolution permitting the issuing of newly printed passports to citizens. According to the resolution, passports are issued for one year to citizens who do not have passport, who have all visa pages filled up, who have USSR passports of the 1974 sample or whose passports have expired. Even the issuing of 141,800 newly printed passports will unlikely solve the situation as today reportedly up to 500,000 persons in Kyrgyzstan need new passports. In the meantime, concerns have been raised over the violation of people’s rights and the Constitution. The inability of the government to provide the citizens with the main civil document has deprived them of freedom of movement and, what is more important, preventing thousands of people from casting vote in the coming elections.