IMMIGRATION authorities have again delayed the introduction of machine-readable passports -- the fourth time over the past two years.

The new passport with high-tech security features was due to be put in use this month but plans have been put off until December 2006.

The cost of implementation of the passport has been rising because of the overseas travel and training for officers and additional security measures that are now required.

A Canadian company, Canadian Banknote, has been contracted to supply the books.

An American would supply the software technology to put in the biographic data and other security features.

Over the past three years, four immigration officers, who were handpicked to upgrade their skills on the new passport technology, have been travelling to London and Central America to observe how the system works there.

Now they are heading off to Miami on a training stint from the suppliers of the software.

These officers are reportedly living it up on their travels abroad at the expense of the government.

One officer was seen shopping at Harrod’s (where celebrities shop) in London, while another went on a shopping spree in Panama on his visit there.

Immigration officers believe that the authorities would again have to defer the implementation date because the office where the travel documents have to be processed at the Immigration Department, Port of Spain is not yet ready.

No technical infrastructure has been put in place to process the passports that are to be processed here.

Persons whose passports will soon expire and those that have expired over the past year will get two-year-extensions.

An immigrant source said by the time the new, machine-readable passports are introduced they will cost the government about five times the original price because of the delays.