Decree No. (244) of 1997 on the organizational structure of the Department of Travel Documents, Nationality and Foreigner Affairs

General People’s Committee for Justice and Public Security

Decree No. (244) of 1426 AH

on the organisational structure of the Travel Documents,

Nationality, and Foreigner Affairs Authority

The General People’s Committee for Justice and Public Security

Upon review of:

• The Law of the Financial System of the State, and the amendments thereof;
• Law on personal ID cards;
• Law No. (55) of 1976 on civil service;
• Law No. (13) of 1980 on social security;
• Law No. (18) of 1980 on the provisions of the nationality law and the amendments thereof;
• Law No. (15) of 1981 on the system of salaries for public servants in the Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya;
• Law No. (4) of 1980 on travel documents;
• Law No. (6) of 1987 on organising the entry, residence, and exit of foreigners in Libya;
• Law No. (10) of 1992 on issuing the security and police law;
• Law No. (1) of 1425 AH on organising popular oversight;
• General People’s Committee Decree No. (19) of 1993 on organising the Secretariat of the General People’s Committee for Justice and Public Security;
• General People’s Committee Decree No. (17) of 1426 AH on establishing the Travel Documents, Nationality and Foreigner Affairs Authority;
• The proposal of the President of the Travel Documents, Nationality and Foreigner Affairs Authority;

has decreed:

Article (1)

The organisational structure of the Travel Documents, Nationality and Foreigner Affairs Authority shall be as follows:

1. The Inspection and Monitoring Division shall have the following competencies:

• Provide regular and surprise administrative, technical, and financial inspection of the Authority’s administrative divisions to ensure proper functioning as required.
• Detect administrative, technical, and financial violations, reveal shortcomings, and prepare reports in this regard.
• Any other tasks assigned by the Authority president.

2. The Confidential Affairs Division shall have the following competencies:

• Receive important and urgent correspondence and present it to the Authority head.
• Archive decisions and instructions issued by the Authority head organised by sequence and date of issue.
• Archive particular documents, legal instruments, and correspondence of a special nature in terms of importance and confidentiality. Issue travel documents, residencies, and visas for entry, exit, and exit and re-entry for particularly important urgent cases.
• Prepare letters and gather data and information required by the Authority president.

3. The Legal Affairs Division shall have the following competencies:

• Provide legal opinion on matters referred thereto by the Authority president and Authority directors.
• Review and formulate draft laws, regulations, decrees, and contracts related to the legal aspect of the Authority’s work.
• Contact the General Law Department, the Lawsuits Authority, and legal advisors in different bodies to research legal issues related to the Authority’s competencies.
• Monitor lawsuits brought by or against the Authority in coordination with the Lawsuits Authority.
• Attend meetings assigned by the Authority president.
• Prepare rulings and legal opinions related to the Authority’s competencies.
• Collect laws and regulations related to the Authority’s competencies.

4. The Relations and Cooperation Division shall have the following competencies:

• Organise and arrange the procedures related to the committees of which the Authority head is the chairman or member.
• Organise and coordinate the meetings and interviews of the Authority head.
• Take necessary arrangements for meetings, gatherings, and seminars related to the Authority’s work.
• Archive and organise files containing international agreements, conferences, and seminars relevant to the Authority’s work, as well as reports of participating delegations.
• Perform all functions necessary to welcome and bid farewell to delegations and visitors whose visits are classified as an activity of the Authority in coordination with departments and branches.
• Organise queries related to the Authority, guide the public and answer their inquiries.
• Receive grievances and complaints submitted by citizens or others, examine them and present them to the Authority president or department directors based on their competencies and accompanied with the necessary specific feedback, and monitor the implementation of instructions issued in that regard.
• Undertake procedures related to the travel and reception of delegates from the Authority in important tasks domestically or abroad.
• Implement media plans to raise the awareness of the masses of the Basic People’s Congress regarding the Authority’s tasks and achievements accomplished through cooperation with competent bodies.
• Monitor what is posted or published on different media networks in terms of matters related to the Authority’s work, summarize this information and present it in a memorandum to the Authority head, and implement instructions issued in this regard.
• Organise social, cultural, and athletic activities for workers and prepare programs that further participation in these activities through coordination with competent bodies.
• Supervise the library.

Article (2)

1. The Administrative and Financial Affairs Department shall have the following competencies:

• Perform the activities of incoming and outgoing mail and administrative archives, maintain required records and files in that regard.
• Prepare periodic reports every three months on the activities of the Authority, its branches, and its affiliated offices.
• Safeguard the Authority, organise shifts, organise and monitor the attendance and departure of Authority employees, prepare required records in this regard, prosecute violators of the Police and Civil Service Law, and preserve general order inside the Authority.
• Maintain custody over, print and distribute travel documents in accordance with work requirements.
• Perform the Authority’s financial and accounting functions and prepare salaries and bonuses.
• Perform communication affairs functions, provide maintenance for devices in the Authority, its branches, and its offices; secure the Authority’s needs in terms of office supplies, tools, accessories, and other services.
• Study the Authority’s needs in terms of vehicles and machinery and draft necessary plans for their obtainment.
• Provide, store, and issue the required weapons and ammunition, clothing, and tasks for employees and record them in the records, prepare cards and forms in this regard.
• Prepare technical plans, blueprints, and specifications required for the Authority’s projects, monitor their implementation and undertake measures for their receipt.
• Prepare required plans regarding clubs, shops, investment projects, and their development.
• Exercise responsibility for the social welfare fund for police officers in the Authority. The affairs of the fund shall be organised, and its resources, method of distribution, and related rules and regulations shall be organised by virtue of a decision from the Secretariat of the General People’s Committee for Justice and Public Security.
• Undertake procedures relating to appointment, end of service for different purposes, transfer, delegation, secondment, promotions, bonuses, and other benefits, as well as delegations, in accordance with the laws and regulations in force.
• Organise and archive personal files for employees, career cards, seniority charts, financial disclosure statements, and all other issues related to employee affairs.
• Prepare and organise staff and seniority records, and yearly and monthly employee reports.
• Plan for Authority workforce needs.
• Follow-up with retirees and suggest ways to make use of their expertise.
• Create and implement necessary implementation plans for training and improving the skills of Authority workers.

2. The Travel Documents, Nationality, and Personal ID Cards Department shall have the following competencies:

• Prepare studies and propose suggestions on developing the bases for issuing travel documents and personal ID cards.
• Issue sea and air passports, collective passports, and documents of a special and urgent nature in cooperation with the Confidential Affairs Authority.
• Issue travel documents in consular departments in People’s Bureaus and Brotherhood Bureaus abroad.
• Organise and archive entries of documents issued by the Authority’s branches and offices in cooperation with the Oversight and Documentation Department.
• Provide necessary recommendations regarding the development of the work method for forms and papers used in issuing passports and personal ID cards.
• Ensure that required conditions for issuing nationality certificates are being met, and perform the necessary procedures to issue them.
• Monitor and tally cases of the nationality being lost, revoked, or renounced, and take necessary procedures in that regard.
• Sort nationality entries and refer them to the Oversight and Documentation Authority.
• Monitor the functions of nationality committees in the Authority’s branches, review its decisions to ensure they conform to legal conditions.
• Archive and organise log records of Libyans residing abroad for different purposes with coordination and cooperation with the General Directorate of Consular Affairs.

3. The Oversight and Documentation Administration shall have the following competencies:

• Prepare electronic documentation programs for information.
• Receive information and data from competent departments, branches, and offices, and document them in accordance with the approved programming.
• Prepare a unified digital and print guide for documents issued to each citizen containing numbers of issued passports, personal ID cards, and nationality certificates.
• Prepare a guide for foreign residents in Libya.*
• Prepare statistics related to travel documents, nationality, personal ID cards, and foreign residents, then classify, sort, and analyse them.
• Receive notifications from competent bodies regarding the loss of travel documents, personal ID cards, and nationality certificates, and take measures to disseminate and monitor them, and provide recommendations to treat their causes.
• Prepare a periodical containing statistics related to completed and lost travel documents, personal ID cards, nationality certificate, and residency permits, and present it to the Authority head.
• Supervise computer units affiliated with the Authority, provide them with maintenance and secure necessary spare parts for them.
• Develop the documents and forms used in the Authority to be consistent with electronic use.
• Communicate and cooperate with public bodies to develop computer programs and uses to obtain technical support in this field.
• Establish a specialised library in the field of computers and supply it with books and resources.
• Monitor entry and exit movement through designated ports, and receive, classify, and archive statements and ID cards.
• Monitor the movement and residency of foreign residents through branches and offices, and prepare an alphabetical and dated guide in that regard.
• Supervise passport controls in entry and exit ports, receive notifications regarding entry and exit, and take necessary measures in that regard.
• Maintain lists and monitor their dissemination in accordance with organisational instructions.
• Any other tasks commissioned by the Authority head.
• Each official entry and exit port shall have a passport control affiliated with the Oversight and Documentation Authority, and its organisation and competencies shall be determined by virtue of a decision issued by the Authority head.

4. The Foreigner Affairs Authority shall have the following competencies:

• Take necessary measures to organise the receipt of notifications regarding the housing and registration of foreigners, and record their places of residence.
• Take necessary measures to grant foreigners permission of entry into Libya.*
• Perform the functions of issuing consular entry and transit visas to Libya* in People’s Bureaus abroad.
• Organise and disseminate instructions issued regarding the prescribed conditions and regulations for granting residency, entry, and exit visas.
• Grant residency visas to the categories that have special instructions issued in their regard due to public interest requirements, in coordination with the Confidential Affairs office.
• Organise necessary procedures for granting entry visas for the purpose of tourism to contribute to the success of encouraging investment in the field of tourism as instructed.
• Investigate and collect evidence in cases referred by the Authority head concerning those who violate the provisions of legislation organising nationality, travel documents, personal ID cards, and the entry and residence of foreigners, as well as refer cases to the judicial authorities.
• Monitor the implementation of provisions and decrees related to deportation and extradition, and take necessary procedures in that regard in accordance with legislation in force.
• Investigate and inspect foreigners’ places of work, monitor their movements to ensure the legality of their residence and implement legislation in force in their regard.
• Receive foreign company requests for registration, examine their applications to ensure the validity of their procedures and present them to the Authority head, and implement his instructions in their regard.
• Archive and organise entries, records, and cards related to foreign companies, and regulate contact with them.

Article (3)

The Authority shall have branches established by virtue of a decision issued by he Secretariat of the General People’s Committee for Justice and Public Security on the basis of a proposal by the Authority president. It shall have the following competencies:

• Receive applications related to obtaining travel documents, nationality, personal ID cards, residency visas and their renewal, entry and exit visas, and exit and re-entry visas. Issuing decisions in their regard in correspondence with organising legislation in force.
• Receive notifications regarding the housing and registration of foreigners, record their places of residence in coordination with competent bodies, and take necessary measures in their regard.
• Issue and renew travel documents and residency visas in accordance with legislation in force.
• Present the Authority’s administrations and offices with data and statistics in accordance with rules and regulations in force.
• Investigate and inspect violators of provisions of organising legislature for nationality, travel documents, personal ID cards, and foreigner residencies. Take necessary measures to transfer them to competent judicial bodies.
• Implement deportation orders and provisions in coordination with the competent administration.
• Any other tasks assigned by the Authority president.

Article (4)

Each security directorate shall have at least one office of the Travel Documents, Nationality, and Foreigner Affairs Authority. Its organisation and competencies shall be determined by virtue of a decision issued by the Authority president and it shall be affiliated with branches of the Authority.

Article (5)

Offices may be established in some administrative and production units by virtue of a decision issued by the Authority president in accordance with public interest requirements. The organisation, competencies, and affiliation of the offices shall be determined by virtue of a decision issued by the Authority president.

Article (6)

The Authority president shall issue a decision on the local organisation of the branches and administrations based on a proposal by the branch president or director of the competent Authority.

Article (7)

This decree shall enter into force from its date of issuance and shall be published in the Official Gazette.

General People’s Committee for Justice and Public Security – Libya

Issued on: 18/Shawwal/1406

Corresponding to: 26/February/1426 FBP