Maj. Gen. Elia Kosta Faustino addresses immigration personnel during a decoration parade on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. While honoring the officers' promotions, the Director General warned that anyone caught facilitating illegal passports for foreigners would face the full force of the law. Credit: SSBC

The Director of Civil Registry and Immigration has moved the payment of passport and nationality fees to a digital system, requiring citizens to pay directly into the National Revenue Authority’s (NRA) bank account.

Major General Elia Costa says the change follows a directive from the Office of the President aimed at improving transparency and efficiency in government revenue collection.

Speaking in an exclusive interview, General Costa, said the new system ensures that all payments go straight into the NRA account.

“There was a decision from the office of the President that the system should be digital. We have also changed our system to a digital system. It means that the money we collect here will go directly to Retune Authority account in the bank here in the directorate, so the citizen will go to deposit the fees in NRA account Previously, we used to issue financial receipts to citizens first and then deposit the amount into the Revenue Authority’s account,” he said.

Under the new arrangement, all fees collected will go directly into the NRA bank account at the directorate, replacing the previous system where financial receipts were issued before funds were deposited.

General Costa added that citizens are now provided with the official account number and are required to deposit the fees directly themselves.

“Now, we provide citizens with the account number, and they deposit the amount directly themselves,” he added.

He said the change is intended to strengthen transparency and efficiency in the collection of passport and nationality fees.