Bangladesh set to introduce e-passports on Jan 22

The distribution of electronic passports or e-passports is set to begin on Jan 22.

The Department of Immigration and Passports will initially distribute e-passports form its Agargaon, Uttara and Jatrabari offices in Dhaka.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to launch e-passport distribution at an event scheduled to be held at the capital’s Bangabandhu International Conference Centre on Wednesday, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said at a media briefing on Sunday. 

The president and the prime minister of Bangladesh will receive e-passports first, he said, adding that anyone can apply for e-passports.

The delivery of e-passports will start in regional offices by the end of 2020. The services will expand in phases, the minister said. Machine-readable passports will remain valid as well.
 
DIP will issue 48-page and 64-page e-passports with the validity of five years and ten years respectively.
 
The decision on introducing digital passport comes less than a decade after Bangladesh switched from manual passport to the machine-readable passport or MRP.
 

The government took the initiative to introduce e-passports in the wake of more than one passport being illegally issued against one person in the absence of database of fingerprints of citizens.

In July last year, DIP sealed a more than Tk 30 billion contract with the world-leading identity solutions provider Veridos, a German joint venture, to introduce e-passports in Bangladesh.

Under the agreement, the firm will deliver two million e-passport booklets, equipment with the capacity of producing 28 million passports, hardware, software and 10-year maintenance service.

The contract also covers the entire value-chain for e-passports – from security paper right through to e-Gates. The solution includes the setting up of a local passport factory with high-tech equipment.

In June last year, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council or ECNEC approved the e-passport project.