Passport offices resume operation on limited scale

The Department of Immigration and Passports (DIP) has started enrolment of e-Passport and MRP (new and re-issue) on limited scale, after five months' closure due to Covid-19 pandemic. 

DIP issued a notification recently confirming the matter, which also insisted on following the health guideline.

On March 20, the DIP suspended enrolment of e-Passport and MRP to prevent coronavirus transmission while the process of police verification also remained closed.

Director General (DG) of the DIP, Major General Mohammad Ayub Chowdhury, said all offices of the DIP have resumed activity at limited scale.

"We will begin regular activities after the government's decision in this regard," he said.

DIP will start accepting new applications from the beginning of next month and has already started taking re-issue applications, he said.

Meanwhile, many people, including students, patients and Bangladeshi expatriates, have alleged that they applied for machine readable passports (MRPs) long ago but are yet to receive their passports.

Bangladesh entered e-Passport era as the first country in South Asia with the formal opening of the electronic passport services on January 22 this year.

The e-Passport was initially being issued from three offices -- Uttara, Jatrabari and Agargaon -- of the DIP in Dhaka. These offices have the capacity to issue 25,000 passports a day.

The e-Passport service is scheduled to be gradually introduced in 69 passport offices across the country.