E-passport system to be set up in foreign missions from 26 Aug

The Department of Immigration and Passports will start installing the e-passport system in foreign missions of Bangladesh from 26 August.

It says the system will be installed in Germany and Greece in the first phase and then gradually in 80 other missions across the world.

The passport department was supposed to start issuing e-passports from 20 June but could not do so in foreign missions due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

But e-passports are being issued in Bangladesh.

The delay in issuing e-passports has caused sufferings among expatriates as the machine readable passport (MRP) software has already expired.

As a result, MRP issuance slowed, causing a huge backlog.

Amid this situation, foreign missions recently issued notices, saying receiving passport applications had been suspended due to server problems.

For instance, the Bangladesh embassy in Kuwait issued a notice on 11 August, saying issuing passports in all foreign missions had been suspended by the Dhaka office due to technical glitches in the server.

But the passport department says MRPs will be issued until the e-passport system is fully implemented. 

"MRP delivery to foreign missions is on," Major General Mohammad Ayub Chowdhury, director general of the passport department, told The Business Standard.  

He said the MRP software had expired as physical passports were not supposed to continue anymore.

"As a result, the server became slow, causing some temporary problems. We need to send machines and related instruments to foreign missions for installing the e-passport system," he said.

He claimed foreign missions had issued notices about suspending MRP delivery without consulting the passport department or the home ministry.

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen told an event on Tuesday foreign missions could not renew passports due to printing problems at the Dhaka office.

He said the home ministry had been informed of the issue and they were taking necessary measures.

But opposing the minister's statement, Ayub said there was no printing problem.

The passport department issued a notice on Tuesday, explaining the current confusion about passport delivery.

The notice said a deal was signed with Germany's Veridos GmbH to implement e-passports in July 2019.

According to the deal, the e-passport system was supposed to be installed in 72 local passport offices and 80 foreign missions within 18 months, but it could not be done due to Covid-19.

MRPs were introduced 11 years back.

The warranty of MRP machines expired long ago. But the old system was kept active through various software upgradation.  

The passport department has already signed a deal with Malaysia's IRIS Corporation Berhad for MRP system upgradation.

A total of 32,060 passport applications were processed by the system in four days between 12 August and 17 August.

A passport department statement said the MRP system never stopped; it just slowed. This happened several times before and the problems were solved.

Such problems may arise in the future again until e-passports are fully implemented, the statement added.