Thousands of people have since early this month rushed to the Immigration Management Office under the HCMC Public Security Department to apply for passports in the wake of a rumor that the passport issuance fee would pick up by VND1-2 million (US$46.6-93.2) in the coming time.

Throngs of people are seen at the HCMC immigration office applying for passports.

There have been long queues at the immigration office on Nguyen Du Street, District 1 in recent days. According to a representative of the agency, around one thousand citizens come there a day to ask for the issuance of passports although March was the off-peak travel season in previous years.

A resident in District 3 arrived at the office at 3 p.m. last Friday to wait for his turn as he plans to go on vacation abroad during the Reunification Day (April 30) holiday. Having heard the rumor, another citizen in Binh Thanh District also came to the office the same day although she had had no plan for overseas travel.

Speaking to the Daily last weekend, Colonel Nguyen Van Anh, head of the Immigration Management Office, said there was no official news released by the competent agencies about the charge spike.

Anh advised people not to seek a passport at the moment if they had no intention of going aboard during the holiday. He affirmed the passport fee is still VND200,000 each.

On the other hand, people can use express delivery service at the cost of VND20,000 per passport to save time and energy. The agency has extended working hours and assigned more staff to deal with a sudden surge in workload.

Anh said the office would be moved to 196 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, District 3 to make it more convenient for citizens as the new building is more easily accessible and more spacious.