The government has extended tenure of machine readable passport and visa project till December this year, said official sources.
This is to complete the works of giving MRPs to 15m Bangladeshi expatriates.
The decision of extension was announced at a home ministry review meeting on development projects with State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzamzn Khan recently.
Earlier, the home ministry extended the project tenure twice and the last time it was extended to June this year.
The extension came after apprehension that the Malaysian contractor company Iris JV would not be able to deliver all the MRPs by June this year.
“Considering the challenges, the (home) ministry has decided to extend the tenure for a third time,” a meeting source quoted state minister for home affairs.
After November 24, none will be allowed to travel abroad without MRP. The deadline has been set by International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), making MRPs mandatory for all nationalities including Bangladeshis.
The home ministry meeting said necessary kits for issuing MRPs were already sent to different Bangladeshi embassies.
“The project extension is for the betterment of the expatriates particularly living in Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and United Arab Emirates (UAE),” said Asaduzzaman Khan.
The meeting also disclosed the plan to set up MRP issuing centres in Chinese city of Kunming and Austria’s capital Vienna instead of Indian city of Mumbai and Iran’s capital Tehran.
The home ministry has also decided to telecast advertisements on television channels on having MRPs by November deadline.
Besides, the expatriates will be asked by the Bangladesh government agencies based in respective countries to have MRPs by the end of the deadline.
On Thursday, the passport authorities claimed to have achieved the milestone of issuing 10m MRPs to Bangladeshi expatriates.
Director General of Immigration and Passports NM Zeaul Alam said some 3.5m non-resident Bangladeshis would be provided with MRPs by the November deadline.
He said the capacity to print MRPs now increased to 20,000 pieces a day as compared to a daily average demand of 12,000-14,000, indicating that the authorities have now the capacity to meet the deadline.
Meanwhile, Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry has expressed concern at slow implementation of the MRP project.
Expatriates’ Welfare Minister Engineer Khandker Mosharraf Hossain said they would seek alternative ways if the Malaysian company failed to issue MRP within the stipulated time.
“The government will look for an alternative way if the Malaysian company Iris fails to do so in time,” he said at an Advisory Committee meeting on issuance of MRP last month.