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Ethiopia: Whether the Ethiopian government would renew the expired passport of, or issue a new passport to, somebody (a) who holds an Ethiopian passport that expired in 1999; (b) whose expired Ethiopian passport had been renewed abroad in 1997; (c) who was born in Asmara; and, (d) who did not vote in the 1993 referendum

In a 14 May 2004 telephone interview, a representative of the Ethiopian Embassy in Ottawa provided the following information: He reported that the embassy in Ottawa would be able to renew the expired passport of someone whose passport expired in 1999 or whose expired passport had previously been renewed abroad in 1997. However, he reported that the expired passport of a person born in Asmara would not automatically be renewed. The representative declined to provide further details, saying that the embassy would need to see the passport and application before deciding if such a passport would be renewed.

In a 14 May 2004 telephone interview, a representative of the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington, DC corroborated this information: He agreed that the Ethiopian government would renew the expired passport of someone whose passport expired in 1999 regardless of whether it had previously been renewed abroad or not. He also agreed that renewing the passport of a person born in Asmara would not be automatic. He explained that if the person and his/her family members were Ethiopian, then the passport would likely be renewed after the government had "checked out" the applicant and his/her family members. He declined to cite the reasons why a passport might not be renewed, or what would be "checked." The representative explained that the embassy would need to review the passport and the application before making such a decision.

Regarding the renewal of an expired passport for someone who had not voted in the 1993 referendum, both representatives reported that they had no way of knowing such information about applicants and that such information would not be relevant to a passport application (Embassy of Ethiopia, Ottawa 14 May 2004; Embassy of Ethiopia, Washington 14 May 2004).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection.

References

Embassy of Ethiopia, Ottawa. 14 May 2004. Telephone interview with representative.

Embassy of Ethiopia, Washington, DC. 14 May 2004. Telephone interview with representative.