Haiti is suffering a severe political and economic crisis, as well as lawlessness and violence that make it dangerous for many people to stay. Alarmed by the life-threatening conditions faced by many Haitians, including women and children, in their efforts to the U.S. by land, immigrant advocates have fought tirelessly for a safe alternative. 

In January, the Biden expanded the humanitarian parole program that has provided safety to Ukrainians and Venezuelans, making it possible for thousands of Haitians to be admitted to the U.S. if they could find a sponsor. But a major new obstacle has emerged: The Haitian government can't keep up with the unprecedented demand for passports and renewals.

This is why we are urging the Haitian government to take swift action to enable citizens to travel with expired passports, if needed. What follows is our formal petition.

We, the undersigned, concerned by understandable but significant delays in Haitian passport renewal and issuance due to unprecedented demand – delays which are preventing eligible Haitians from being timely-paroled into the United States under its new parole program – respectfully ask the Haitian government to issue a decree making valid all expired Haitian passports which have expired no more than five (5) years prior to the date of travel.

We propose that the Haitian government affix a special stamp in the passports of all those who arrive at the airport to travel with such a passport, extending its validity to allow the person to travel abroad. Holders of such expired passports should be able to renew their passports at the Haitian consulate once they arrive abroad. Given the current significant time delays in issuing Haitian passports, due to the sudden demand, such a decree is of the greatest importance, both to allow Haitians to travel freely and to avoid their exploitation by unscrupulous, ill-intentioned persons who are demanding exorbitant sums of money from desperate persons, some of whose lives may be in danger, to acquire or to renew their passports.

There is significant precedent for such a decree. For example, the Decree of May 21, 2019 of the National Assembly of Venezuela allows Venezuelan nationals to travel with a passport expired for less than five (5) years, provided that they are in possession of a visa that allows them to travel to their destination country. This Venezuelan policy is officially recognized by several countries around the world, including the United States, Canada, and France. Several other countries have adopted similar policies in response to emergency situations.

This is such an emergency, and the need is time-sensitive. The United States' new parole policy, which has caused the current extraordinary demand for Haitian passport renewal and issuance and the consequent lengthy delays, has been challenged in U.S. federal court and may be blocked by judicial order as soon as early April. Thus, timely travel now is imperative.

We urge the Haitian government to act without delay to take every necessary step to address this problem and enable Haitian citizens to travel out of the country safely and promptly by airplane.