パスポート申請、オンラインでも　改正旅券法成立

　パスポート（旅券）の新規発行や更新手続きをオンラインでできるようにする改正旅券法が、２０日の参院本会議で全会一致で可決、成立した。行政のデジタル化の一環で、利用者の利便性向上を図る。
　外務省によると、更新手続きのオンライン化は今年度末ごろから全都道府県で可能になる見通し。新規発行についてはシステム整備に時間を要するため、２０２４年度中の実施を目指す。（2022/04/20-15:47）

The Diet, Japan's parliament, on Wednesday enacted a bill to make procedures for new issuance and renewal of passports available online.
   The bill to revise the passport law as part of efforts to digitalize administrative affairs and improve user convenience was unanimously approved at the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet.
   The process of renewing passports will go online across the country around the end of the current fiscal year, Foreign Ministry officials said.
   The government aims to establish an online system for the issuance of new passports by the end of fiscal 2024, they said.
   Until now, passports became invalid if the holders do not collect them at the local passport center within six months of the issuance.