Registry offices demand citizens pay fee hike
Seda Türkoğlu- ANKARA
Though many citizens paid a fee for the passport in the last months of 2022 and got an appointment in 2023 due to the density, civil registry offices have demanded to reflect the raised fee differences.
In the last month of last year, after the announcement of a 123 percent increase in passport fees in the new year, citizens flocked to the registry offices to obtain passports paying the former price.
However, due to the density, the offices gave the appointments of those who paid their fees to 2023. But people were taken aback as the offices demanded them to pay the increased price difference as they showed up on the day of their appointment in the new year.
Thereupon, many citizens filed complaints via the Presidential Communications Center (CİMER).
Aydın Ağaoğlu, the head of the Consumer Confederation, stated that they recommend citizens to write an objection petition online addressed to both the Revenue Administration, where the fees are
deposited, and the Interior Ministry, where the passports are obtained.
“These persons should create a petition by stating the amount of the fee they paid if the transaction had been made on the date they applied for a passport,” Ağaoğlu explained.
If this process does not conclude with the intended result, citizens can again apply to the Ombudsman Institution via the internet stating that this practice is contrary to the “suitable administration principles” and requesting that their grievances be redressed.
“The Ombudsman Institution was established by law within the body of the parliament and is in the position of ‘citizen’s lawyer’ against the negativities arising in the relations of public institutions with citizens,” Ağaoğlu expressed.
Thanks to this function, it provides advice to public institutions, Ağaoğlu noted, adding that these recommendations can yield effective results.
Noting that the situation should have been clearly stated to the citizens applying for a passport in December 2022, Ağaoğlu said that the right to be informed is a universal consumer right and that the grievances arising in this regard should be eliminated.
