Bangladeshi expatriates in Saudi Arabia are finally going to get Machine Readable Passport (MRP) by November 2015 as the hand-written passports will no longer be accepted after the time.
The government has signed a contract on Monday in Dhaka with a Malaysian company for MRP for Saudi expatriates who are still holding hand-written passports, said a press release.
As the hand-written passports held by the Bangladeshi citizens working or living in Saudi Arabia will be invalid from November 2015, that they must get MRP by the time.
Department of Immigrations and Passport under the Home Ministry signed a contract with IRIS Corporation Berhad, Malaysia to collect MRP enrollment data and distribution of MRP passports among Bangladeshi citizens.
The Department said the getting an MRP issued will cost a person US$9 in KSA through changing previous one to a new one.
During the signing of the deal, State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said, “It is undoubtedly a milestone initiative for the Bangladeshi workers who might not be able to go to the city to apply for the MRP. But under this process all of them can get MRP without any hassle.”
Among others, Managing Director of IRIS Corporation Dato Hamdan Mohammad Hasan, Senior Secretary Dr Md Mozammel Haque Khan, Director General of Department of Immigration and Passport Md Abdul Mabud, Project Director of Machine Readable Passport and Visa Brigadier General Masud Rezwan were also present at the function.
Currently, Bangladesh’s passport authorities print an average of 15,000 MRP daily.
According to the contract, officials of IRIS Corporation which has been working since 1998 for electronic passport processing will travel every city of KSA and take information of the Bangladeshis.