Officials hope a combination of new technology and the recent amendment to the territory’s marriage laws can reverse a downward trend of marriages in the territory, according to a report from the Civil Registry and Passport Office released at the latest House of Assembly meeting.
The report covers 2011, a year that was “the best of times and the worst of times” for the office, wrote Registrar General Stephanie Benn in her message accompanying it.
While a recession forced the department to do more with “little financial support,” the department also began using new electronic belonger cards and completed its civil registry information system, which allows it to electronically interface with five other government agencies, Ms. Benn wrote in the report.
One of the department’s major challenges this year was the need for another Spanish-speaking officer, the report states. This would help not only with assisting Spanish-speaking customers, but with evaluating government documents from the Dominican Republic.
See the July 12, 2012 edition for full coverage.
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