Thousands of migrants suffer without passports abroad
Passport making was stopped due to technical faults in the MRP server of the Department of Immigration and Passports
Thousands of migrant Bangladeshis in various countries are suffering a lot, not getting their passports on time, as the department of immigration and passports stopped the delivery process for an indefinite period of time.
"All Bangladesh missions abroad have had to stop issuing passports due to technical faults in the machine readable passport (MRP) server of the Department of Immigration and Passports in Dhaka. However, the department has informed us that this problem will be resolved soon," read a notice issued by the Bangladesh embassy in Kuwait on Wednesday.
The embassy also said passport delivery would remain stopped until further notice.
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Some other Bangladesh missions abroad like Malaysia, Maldives, Lebanon, Singapore, and more, have also issued the same notice.
"Currently, a large number of passports to be delivered are in the pipeline thanks to lost capacity of the server of the Passport Department," read a notice issued by the Bangladesh high commission in Kuala Lumpur on 7 August.
The High Commission distributed 196,932 passports from November last year to July this year, it added.
Earlier, on 28 June, the Bangladesh embassy in Lebanon, notified migrants there that passport delivery may be delayed due to server complications at the Department of Immigration and Passports in Dhaka.
Despite multiple attempts, Major General Mohammad Ayub Chowdhury, director general of Department of Immigration and Passports, could not be reached for comment.
Meanwhile, Bangladeshi migrants are facing various problems abroad, not getting their passports in the expected timeframe.
Ahmadul Kobir, a Bangladeshi journalist in Malaysia, told TBS, "Migrant workers unable to extend the validity of their visas without a fresh passport, are being fined by employers. Many undocumented workers have also fallen into uncertainty without passports being issued, unable to tap the opportunity of becoming regular and legitimate, under a recalibration program declared by the Malaysian government, which will close in December this year."
Under the Malaysian government's Labour Recalibration Plan, workers who want to regularise under an employer must have at least 18 months of validity for their passport.
"It has been eight months since I applied for renewal of my passport. Now I cannot get a date trying to apply for an appointment online. Does anyone know what I should do? My visa ends this October," Mohon Tahamina, a migrant in Malaysia commented on Facebook recently.
Regarding the root cause of the recent crisis, Shariful Hasan, head of Brac's migration programme, said, "As per agreement, Malaysia-based IRIS Corporation Berhad got the MRP passport job in Bangladesh to take fingerprints for making 3 crore passports."
"After crossing 3 crore fingerprints in June, new passports could no longer be printed. Because, if someone wants to do a new MRP, the information has to be verified with the previous passport from the server. But that was not done automatically. There was no alternative as no Bangladesh embassy abroad has an opportunity to issue e-passports, yet," he added.
"Another agreement for making 60 lakh more MRPs has been finalised with IRIS Corporation to resolve the crisis. Hopefully, the problem will be solved quickly," said Shariful, quoting sources at the passport department.
According to guidelines of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), a machine readable passport (MRP) is mandatory for all expatriate Bangladeshis by March 2015. Bangladesh started its machine readable passport and visa project from 1 April, 2010, although the country decided on MRPs back in 1998.
