North Carolina, Charlotte – The Consulate General of Guatemala in Raleigh will end the year with good news for its compatriots, with the expansion of its facilities and new services in the delivery of documents, among these is the Guatemalan passport.
Consul Jorge Archila told Enlace Latino NC , that since the headquarters began in Raleigh five and a half years ago, in 2017, the need to expand and modernize the premises was seen in order to be able to provide new and better services to its countrymen.
Passport delivery on the same day at the Guatemalan Consulate in Raleigh
Among the new services is the delivery of same day passports , which meant having new printing and laminating equipment, a vault for virgin passports, and a space for the validation and quality control of passports, as well as the training of authorized personnel to carry out this procedure.
“It took us four years to be able to do this expansion, because the previous facilities were not sufficient. We had to add a printing area, and a security area for the blank passport books,” Archila said.
Know the step by step to process the Guatemala Passport in the United States Pica here to find out.
Passport delivery time reduction
The expansion of the headquarters was ready on October 1, along with the Passport Printing Center, a project that began two years ago with the support of the Guatemalan Migration Institute.
It is a great advance for the consulate, since the delivery of passports that was by mail from Florida was reduced from approximately three weeks to three hours.
Archila said that printing passports for same-day delivery means saving time and money not only for Guatemalans but also for the consular headquarters that assumed the shipping cost.
In turn, the passport that was valid for 5 years is now 10 years, and has a cost of $100.
DPI processing from Guatemala
Another good news is that the Consulate of Guatemala in Raleigh began processing the Personal Identification Document or DPI, since November 1. It is the identification document of Guatemalans.
“Carrying out this additional procedure is possible, thanks to the fact that we have more space. Now here we take the data, but the document is printed in Guatemala and sent directly to the homes of Guatemalans,” said the consul.
Previously, the DPI could not be processed at this consular headquarters, since only eight of the 22 consulates in the United States were authorized to carry out this procedure, which forced applicants to travel to the nearest consulates close in Atlanta (Georgia) or Maryland.
Appointment increase
Consul Archila indicated that, with the expansion of the headquarters, the staff will also increase, which will allow an increase in the number of daily appointments.
“Currently we attend to 100 appointments daily, but we hope that with additional staff that we will have in December and starting in January, we will increase the number of appointments we schedule to 150 daily,” said the consul.
The consulate currently has 14 officials, but it is expected to add five more, for a total of 19 people.
"This is not an effort on my part, but rather an effort on the part of the Foreign Minister and the Guatemalan government to provide the services our fellow citizens need," Archila commented.
"We have a large number of Guatemalans who have difficulty obtaining documents, which is why all these changes are being made," Archila said.
The consul hopes to “be able to serve more people” every day.
100 quotes every day
Archila pointed out that 100 appointments are opened every day, but they end in less than three minutes.
"This shows us that there's more demand than we have capacity. In addition, people arrive without appointments from other states like Virginia, Tennessee, and Florida, and many arrive frustrated," the diplomat explained.
"That's why the government will open a new consulate in Tennessee to ease the burden. We hope this will happen in the first half of 2023," he commented.
According to the consul, around 90,000 Guatemalans reside in North Carolina, and around 45,000 in South Carolina.
To request a consular appointment at the Guatemalan Consulate, consult this article.
Three documents in a single appointment
Archila said that Guatemalans can now obtain the Guatemalan passport, the DPI, and the consular identification card in a single appointment.
“With a single appointment, they can complete all three procedures. The process is similar, three photos are taken, three signatures, and fingerprints are taken three times, but it is a single trip and they leave with their three documents,” he noted.
Mobile consulates from Guatemala
On the other hand, Archila said that next year they will restart with the mobile consulates, and it is expected that there will be eight days starting with Morganton and Charlotte, in North Carolina, and Greenville, Columbia and Charleston, in South Carolina.
“They are double days of Saturday and Sunday, during which we enable 600 appointments,” mentioned the consul.
The diplomat clarified that, although all the information is transmitted to his community through social networks, Facebook and Twitter, and the media, the mobile consular days are informed by local leaders.
“This is to prevent people from arriving from other places, and we can only serve those who reside in the cities where we carry out mobile consulates,” he said.
Consulate Information from Guatemala
Address: 6050 Six Forks Road, Raleigh, NC 20609
Phone: 984-200-1601
Where to make an appointment: www.citaconsularguatemala.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/consraleighgt/
Twitter: ConsGuateRaleighNC @consgtraleigh
PODCAST
After the storm
A year ago, Hurricane Helene struck western North Carolina. The Latino community responded with something stronger than the storm: solidarity.
🎧 In this episode, learn how Latino organizations transformed crisis into resilience.
▶️Press play to listen!
Republish our stories for free on your website or newspaper. We follow the Creative Commons license. Click the box and follow the instructions.
