Dhaka – Handwritten passports are being given a good bye globally from Wednesday. Such handbooks carrying information on personal details of people would not be accepted globally from now onwards. Over 2.50 lakh expatriate Bangladesh nationals are however yet to collect the MRPs.
“We are giving top priority to replace the handwritten passports which some expatriate Bangladeshis are possessing now. Hopefully, the non-resident Bangladeshis will also cooperate in getting this done,” said Director General at the Department of Immigration and Passports NM Ziaul Alam.
Meanwhile, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has set November 24, 2015 as the deadline for phasing out all non-machine readable passports across the world. After the deadline, no country will accept the handwritten passport.
The expatriate Bangladeshis who are now staying in the country can collect the MRP urgently –within forty-eight hour, he said.
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 the MRPs are being printed by four machines.
In the last five years, over 12.5 million MRPs have been issued.
“Now, we are accepting applications for MRPs at 67 offices across the country. Besides, we are also receiving applications through 57 Bangladesh Embassies in various parts of the world,” the DG said.
The passport department is now issuing nearly 3.5 million passports annually. The capacity could be increased in future, he said, according to reports. – News Desk
