After three failed attempts to introduce the much-talked-about e-passport in January, June, and November 2019, the Department of Immigration and Passport (DIP) will not be introducing the digital travel instrument by the end of this year. Sources revealed that the DIP and German company Veridos GmbH were yet to complete all required tasks, including data integration with the machine-readable passport (MRP). The integration of bank accounts to enable the receipt of e-passport fees from applicants also remains incomplete, the sources added.
Speaking with The Independent, DIP director general (DG) Maj. Gen. Shakil Ahmed said they were almost ready to print ePassports at the new passport printing plant. “We have nearly completed the integration of MRP data,” he said. “After inauguration of the e-passport project by the Prime Minister, we will start enrolment on a limited scale through our offices in the Dhaka region. Enrolment will be introduced at the district level gradually,” he added.
“We should be able to start enrolment through our offices and via Bangladesh missions abroad within two years,” he claimed, adding that MRPs would be provided to passport-seekers.
Md Shahiduzzaman, secretary of the home ministry’s Security Service Division, informed The Independent that
e-passports would be introduced next month (January 2020). “We sent a letter to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) seeking a suitable date from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina,” he added.
The secretary claimed that the entire process of introducing the e-passport would be completed in January next year. “We will start enrolment for the e-passport from January,” he said.
A home ministry official revealed that the home ministry had issued a notification fixing the fees for the e-passport from Tk. 3,500 to Tk. 12,000.
Three categories of e-passports—normal, emergency, and very emergency—will be issued with a validity of five to 10 years.
Children under 18 years of age and senior citizens above 65 years will get five-year passports. Others can apply for 10-year passports. Passports valid for five and 10 years, as well as with 48 and 64 pages, will be issued as per the requirement of the applicants.
The fee for a 48-page normal passport with five-year validity is Tk. 3,500. The charges for a similar passport under the emergency and very emergency categories are Tk. 5,500 and Tk. 7,500 respectively.
Meanwhile, a 48-page passport with a 10-year tenure under the normal category will cost Tk. 5,000. The rates for emergency and very emergency passports would be Tk. 7,000 and Tk. 9,000 respectively. For a 64-page passport with a five-year validity, the fee is Tk. 5,500 under the normal category, with the charges rising to Tk. 7,500 for the emergency option and to Tk. 10,500 for the very emergency option. In case of 10 years’ validity, a normal passport will cost Tk. 7,000, an emergency passport Tk. 9,000, and a very emergency passport Tk. 12,000.
Adult applicants who live abroad can enrol for passports at Bangladeshi missions. A 64-page passport with a five-year validity will cost them USD 100 under the normal category and USD 150 under the emergency category. The fee goes up to USD 125 for a normal 64-page passport with a 10-year validity period and to USD 175 for an emergency passport with the same specifications. Students living abroad have to pay USD 30 for a normal passport and USD 45 for an emergency passport with a five-year validity period. For student passports with 10-year validity, the fee is USD 50 for a normal passport and USD 75 for an emergency passport.
The charge for a 64-page e-passport with five-year validity costs USD 150 for the normal category and USD 200 for the emergency category. For 64-page passports with 10 years of validity, the fee is USD 175 for a normal passport and USD 225 for an emergency passport.
DIP sources said that following the introduction of the e-passport next month, a maximum of 2,000 applications would be eligible for enrolment in the Dhaka offices. Gradually, enrolment would be extended to the district offices as well.
According to the director general of the DIP, the authorities are yet to set up 50 e-gates at as many immigration points across all international airports, seaports, and land ports in the country.
The e-passport will be a biometric document that would contain details of the holder’s physical features. It will have a microchip containing biometric information, as well as the holder’s name, date of birth, and other biographic information. The German company Veridos GmbH is providing support to launch the ePassport project in Bangladesh. The project titled “Introduction of E-Passport and Automated Border Control Management in Bangladesh” will cost Tk. 4,569 crore. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed with the German company during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to that country in February 2017. Under the agreement, a passport booklet factory will be set up in Dhaka’s Uttara area, where a six-storey printing establishment of the DIP has been constructed. Veridos GmbH will install the necessary equipment at all Bangladeshi missions abroad and all passport offices in the country.
As part of the proposed project, three crore e-passports will be produced and distributed among the current holders of MRPs in the country. At least 122 countries have already introduced e-passports, while MRPs are currently available in 71 countries.