The government yesterday started issuing machine readable visas (MRV) from the passport office in the capital’s Agargaon and aims to expand it to other divisional offices within a fortnight.
Home Minister Sahara Khatun launched the process by handing over the passport to a foreigner with an MRV sticker.
With this latest addition to the visa issuance system, all immigration check posts will be able to verify the authenticity of Bangladeshi visas online, said the minister adding, it will check any sort of fraudulent practices.
Earlier the government started issuing machine readable passports (MRP) books on May 13, 2010 from the same office.
The MRV will be initially issued only from divisional passport and mission offices, said Shihab Uddin Khan, deputy project director of Introduction of Machine Readable Passport and Machine Readable Visa in Bangladesh project.
The rest of the offices will be equipped by the end of the year, he added.
At present 23 of the 34 regional and divisional passport offices in the country and four mission offices abroad — Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Malaysia and Singapore — are providing MRP books, according to project sources.
The government has issued 3,50,000 MRP books against 4,30,000 applications so far. The authorities will gradually convert the existing 1.30 crore manual passport books into MRP books, mentioned Sahara.
She informed journalists that her ministry is working to stop Myanmar nationals obtaining Bangladeshi passports.
Home Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder noted detectives recently arrested many Myanmar nationals going abroad with Bangladeshi passports.
The passport offices will stop issuing manual passport books within a short time, added the secretary.
The government selected Malaysia-based IRIS Corporation Berhad for the Tk 526 crore MRP and MRV project.
The project was launched in 1989 but changes in decisions by successive governments have delayed its implementation
Courtesy of The Daily Star
