Bangladesh government issues over 10 million machine-readable passports

More than 10 million Bangladeshis now hold machine-readable passports (MRPs).

According to Director General, Department of Immigration and Passports NM Rezaul Alam, 10.5 million people have received MRPs.

He told bdnews24.com on Thursday that efforts were on to replace all the handwritten passports, issued so far, by the MRPs by Nov 24 this year.

The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has set a deadline of the Nov 24, 2015, for phasing out all non-machine readable passports globally.

After the deadline, no country will accept handwritten passport.

“We are, therefore, giving top priority to replace the handwritten passports which some expatriate Bangladeshis are holding. Hopefully, even the non-resident Bangladeshis will also cooperate,” the director general said.

Among the expatriates, priorities were given to those living in Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and United Arab Emirates, he said.

According to the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare, around two million expatriates are still holding handwritten passports.

The MRP project was started by the Department of Immigration and Passports on April 1, 2010. Initially, the project was launched with one machine. At present four machines are being used to print the MRPs.

In five years, over 10 million MRPs have been printed.

For the implementation of the project, the department needed to be expanded both at home and abroad, DG Alam said.

“At present we are accepting applications for MRPs in our 67 offices across the country. Apart from that we are also receiving applications through 57 Bangladesh embassies located in various parts of the world.”

In Dhaka, three passports offices and in Chittagong two offices receive MRP applications.

Apart from that, every district has a passport office where one can apply for the MRP.

However, the MPRs are printed centrally in Dhaka.

Expatriate Bangladeshis can also apply online at the Bangladesh embassies. 

The officials of the embassies will then forward the applications to the Department of Immigration and Passports through the foreign ministry after approval.

The department, after printing the passports based on the applications, will forward them to embassies through the foreign ministry.