Issuing machine readable passports (MRPs) to around 1.5 million Bangladeshi migrant workers in Saudi Arabia has become uncertain as the Malaysian outsourcing company, which was given the job, could not start the pilot project yet.
Officials at Bangladesh Embassy in Malaysia said the migrants would not be able to change their professions without MRP. Manual passport would not be acceptable while Saudi authorities would not endorse documents without MRP.
Ultimately, the migrants would become illegal, the officials added.
Moreover, without MRP the migrants would not be able to travel after November 2015, the deadline has been set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), which has made MRP mandatory for all nationality across the world.
To issue MRP to Bangladeshis in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), the government signed an agreement with IRIS on July 21, 2014.
IRIS is to start the pilot project within 30 days since entering the agreement.
As per agreement, entire work has to be started within three months. And a migrant has to pay $9 dollars for receiving MRP.
But the company is yet to start the pilot project. IRIS would collect MRP enrollment data and distribute MRP passports among Bangladeshi citizens.
Preferring not to be named, a local representative of IRIS said, “We are ready to start the work but we cannot not do so unless Department of Immigration and Passport (DIP) officials reach Saudi Arabia”.
The representative also said the DIP officials would verify the applicant’s document, and afterwords the IRIS would work on data entry.
A senior official at Bangladesh embassy in KSA said as per Saudi government claim, there are 13,00,000 Bangladeshis in the kingdom. But unofficial sources said there are around 20,00,000 Bangladeshis in Saudi Arabia.
The official added around 400,000 MRPs have been issued among the Bangladeshis by the embassy.
Huge number of Bangladeshi migrant workers would be in trouble if they are not issued MRP before ICAO deadline.
“We have selected 16 officers but they could not go to Saudi Arabia for carrying out MRP jobs as they are not getting diplomatic passport,” MRP project director Brig Gen Md Masud Rezwan told the Dhaka Tribune recently.
“We could not provide visa to the officials and as a result the company could not start work,” state minister for home Asaduzzaman Khan told the Dhaka Tribune over phone yesterday.
He hoped the company would be able to start work on issuing passport.
“We have requested the Saudi Authorities to allow additional manpower for issuing MRP to our migrant workers,” Bangladesh ambassador to Saudi Arabia Md Shaidul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune over phone from Saudi Arabia yesterday.