Audit office: Passport and visa services still not properly digitalised

The Czech Supreme Audit Office (Supreme Audit Office) says efforts to digitalise passport and visa services have failed, leaving officials reliant on manual data entry, paper files and couriers. Systems used by the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs remain poorly interconnected, despite hundreds of millions of crowns earmarked for upgrades. According to auditors, work on new systems costing more than CZK 700 million has not yet begun. Delays have been blamed on missed deadlines, late legislation and funding issues, with both ministries still running parallel systems at sharply increased costs.