The government has launched a move to provide machine readable passports (MRPs) among Bangladesh workers and other professionals living in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), officials said.
Different government departments and agencies here believe nearly one million Bangladeshis, mostly workers, now live in the UAE though there is no authentic data.
However, a good number of Bangladeshis are living there without any valid documents as most of them either lost their previous jobs or went to the gulf nation without following any proper process.
But now, according to the officials, all will be eligible to obtain their MRPs from selected outlets of Bangladesh mission in the UAE by paying a certain amount of money under the DIP initiative.
Providing MRPs to the Bangladeshis workers and professionals in the UAE has been the second initiative following a similar move for the Bangladeshis living in Malaysia, the officials said.
They said the government has to take up the move for MRP distribution among the NRBs in the UAE as part of the global compliance issued by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) which asked all the countries to ensure issuing the MRPs by March 2015 by replacing the current manual passports.
According to official sources, the Department of Immigration and Passport (DIP) has already selected a Malaysian firm through a tender process to award the job of MRP distribution among the non-resident Bangladeshis in the UAE.
As per the proposal, the Malaysian firm, IRIS Corporation Berhad, which is now engaged in preparing MRPs, will set up four regional enrollment centres (RECs) at different parts of the UAE where most of the Bangladeshis are working or living.
The NRBs will be asked to apply for the MRPs through these RECs to receive their passports by enrolling their names and submitting applications through prescribed forms.
After the receipt of the applications, the IRIS will send those through online to the DIP headquarters via Bangladesh mission in the UAE.
The DIP will scrutinise the information and data, and prepare the MRPs against the applicants and then send those back to the Bangladesh mission offices in Abu Dhabi and Dubai for handing over the passports to the applicants.
For the whole process, the officials said, the Malaysian firm will charge US$ 13 from each MRP applicant as service charge in addition to the normal charge of having a passport.
According to them, the Home Ministry put forward the proposal of the IRIS Corporation to the Cabinet Division for Purchase Committee’s approval.
Once the proposal is approved, the IRIS will start the process of setting up its offices in the UAE, said a DIP official.
He informed that the Malaysian firm will get a total amount of US$ 13 million, equivalent to Tk 101.40 crore, for the total job considering the issuance of MRP to one million Bangladeshis.
