The Passport authority will start receiving applications for Machine Readable Passport (MRP) from tomorrow (Thursday) to meet the deadline set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
However, MRP will be issued from the first week of May.
“In the first phase, inhabitants of Dhaka, Munshiganj, Narsingdi, Gazipur and Naryanganj can apply for MRP through the Dhaka Regional office from April 1 (Wednesday),” Home Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder told reporters at the Passport Head Office in the city’s Agargaon this (Wednesday) afternoon.
He informed that the people of Mymensingh, Chittagong, Comilla, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Barisal, Rangpur, Jessore and Gopalganj can apply for MRP from April 19 through their respective zonal passport offices.
The Home Secretary said that the remaining 24 regional offices across the country as well as 66 Bangladesh missions abroad will start receiving MRP applications in the final phase. He, however, did not indicate any date.
He said hand written passports could be issued for emergency purposes with one-year validity before the passport authority start delivering MRPs.
The National Identification (NID) number or Birth Registration number is mandatory in applying for MRP, Sikder said.
The ICAO set the April 1 deadline for its member countries to start issuing MRP. All traditional non-MRP passports must be withdrawn from circulation by March 31 in 2015, the ICAO said.
Director General of Department of Passport and Immigration Abdul Mabud and MRP and MRV Project Director Brig Gen Md Refayet Ullah were, among others, present at the press briefing.
The government fixed normal fee for MRP at Tk 3,000 and urgent fee at Tk 6,000.
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