One ‘expedited’ passport, please

last updated 8 January 2015

Tbilisi, Georgia

So many criminals were forging Georgian identity documents that the country is issuing new, more sophisticated passports to foil them. But to get a new passport, Georgian citizens may have to pay a bribe. There’s a two-month wait for the new passports, leaving thousands of Georgians who want to leave the country on vacation stranded at the border. Officials blame production problems for the delays. But residents say that for a $100 bribe, government officials will provide a passport in a single day. One woman reported paying $500 to expedite the process. That’s a lot of money in Georgia, where the average income is $30 a month. “When there’s a deficit, scoundrels will show up,” said one government official. “It probably happens sometimes.”