Govt urges countries to allow manual passports

Foreign Minister Dipu Moni has requested some countries, particularly those receiving Bangladeshi labour, to recognise both Machine Readable Passports (MRPs) and manual passports for issuing visas, saying both are equally valid for Bangladeshi nationals during the transition from manual passports to MRPs.
Moni made the request as hundreds of migrant workers had to face troubles recently in relocating to other countries, following the government’s poor execution of switchover to the MRP regime, introduced in April 2010.
She invited the envoys of the countries concerned yesterday at the Foreign Ministry and made the request. The ambassadors, high commissioners, CDAs and representatives of Kuwait, Qatar, Libya, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Iran, the UAE, Egypt, Malaysia, the Maldives and South Korea were present at the meeting. Those attending the meeting included Al Saloom Anas (Kuwait Embassy), Abdurl Rahman al Mulla (Qatar), Ahmed A.H El Imam (Libya), Satie Al Jai (Iraq), Sami J Hindi (Saudi Arabia), Ahmed Sareer (The Maldieves), Davood Shamlofard (Iran), Jamal Uddin Sabah (Malaysia), Taiyoung Cho (South Korea), Khaban Al Mansuri (The UAE) and Fayez Noseir (Egypt). Besides Foreign Secretary Mijarul Quayes, Secretary of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry Jafar Ahmed Khan, and other senior officials concerned, including DG (Immigration and Passport), were also present.
Bangladeshi workers have been facing problems in several countries, including the UAE, with handwritten passports, as immigration authorities of some countries do not recognise the old passports. Besides, Bangladeshi expatriates were also refused renewal of residence permits on the same ground. Moni told the diplomats that it would take time to replace all handwritten passports with the MRPs, and requested them to accept both MRPs and previously issued handwritten passports. “Bangladesh is facing the problem as the foreign company concerned is unable to supply the MRPs as per the demand,” she said. She said the countries that introduced the MRPs had also to face similar problems in the transition period.
Later, talking to reporters, Moni said that the passport problem in the UAE would be resolved soon. The Bangladesh ambassador to the UAE would hold a meeting with the authorities in that country soon to work out a solution, she added.
She said that the Bangladesh authorities were issuing MRPs in accordance with the international convention. Dipu said that Bangladesh missions abroad had not started issuing MRPs, since it would require machines and other equipment that were not yet available with them.

Courtesy of The Independent