UAE lifts ban on manual passports

Bangladeshi workers’ hassle ends
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has started accepting Bangladeshi manual passports again two weeks after imposing a restriction.
“The UAE authorities have started to allow manual passports along with machine-readable passports (MRP) from Sunday [July 11],” said Md Moniruzzaman, Bangladesh’s Labour Counsellor in Abu Dhabi, reports The Daily Star.
The country had stopped issuing visas on manual passports and started allowing only MRPs since the last week of June stating two types of passports confusing, said an official of Bangladesh high commission there.
Bangladeshi workers there had to face troubles during the time as the UAE authorities asked them to get MRPs when they went to renew their residence permits.
The recruiting agencies here had expressed concern, as thousands of workers seeking jobs in the UAE would also suffer unless the situation was addressed immediately.
Over such development, Foreign Minister Dipu Moni convened a meeting of 12 manpower-importing countries’ envoys in Dhaka on July 4 and asked them to accept both kinds of passport.
She said Bangladesh had just started issuing MRPs and it would take some time to replace the manual passports.
Md Moniruzzaman said Bangladesh Ambassador to the UAE Nazmul Quaunine also held several meetings with the UAE Department of Naturalisation and Residency.
The issue of allowing manual passports is very important, as the UAE hired over 2.5 lakh Bangladeshi workers last year– the largest recruitment by a country. Over 7 lakh Bangladeshis are now working there.
Besides, the issue of how to incorporate a legal guardian’s name in the MRP is still unsettled.
The Middle Eastern countries want that the MRP bear the names of the worker’s legal guardian but the MRPs issued by the Department of Immigration and Passports lack the information.
As the envoys of the manpower importing countries raised the issue during their meeting with the foreign minister, the government decided to incorporate the information in the MRP.
India puts the name of a legal guardian in the last page of the MRP.
On July 15, MRP Project Director Brig Gen Refayet Ullah told The Daily Star that they had seen MRPs of some other countries and now are waiting for feedback from the labour-importing countries before making the final decision.
“So far, we have opinions from two countries,” added Refayet Ullah.
Ali Haider Chowdhury, secretary general of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira), said it appears that the problem is temporarily solved but it is imperative that the government issues MRPs for all overseas jobseekers.
He suggested opening exclusive desks for the purpose.

Courtesy of The Daily Star