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Distribution of e-passport begins this month


Bangladeshpost
Published : 08 Dec 2019 09:00 PM | Updated : 05 Sep 2020 03:41 AM

The much-awaited e-passport (electronic passport) delivery will begin in the 3rd week of December, the month of Victory, as authorities have already completed all formalities in this regard. “We expect that our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will launch the delivery of the e-passport. We have sent a request letter to the PMO seeking her appointment for formal inauguration . . . we hope to get her consent by December 18,” Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told BSS on Sunday.

A renowned German company Veridos GmbH, has been working on e-passport and e-gate in the country, he said, adding that efforts are underway to make immigration process flawless with introduction of the e-passport. The whole process of the immigration formalities will be completed through online, the minister added.

The project “Introduction of Bangladesh e-Passport and Automatic Border Control Management” is being implemented at a cost of Taka 4,569 crore. The Department of Immigration and Passport is implementing the project from July, 2018 to June, 2028, with full government funding. A total of 30 million passports will be delivered in 10 years.

Talking to BSS, Director General of Department of Immigration and Passports (DIP) Major General Shakil Ahmed said the inauguration ceremony will be held after getting consent of the Prime Minister’s Office. According to the project details, two million e-passports will be made in Germany. As a result, the passports of those who apply first will be made from Germany. Validity of e-passport will be for five and 10 years.

An e-passport is a biometric passport which includes a chip containing the information that is printed on the passport’s data page. In some countries, e-passports include two fingerprints as well, it added. The DIP and Germany Veridos signed an agreement on July 19 in 2018 for electronic passports alongside machine-readable ones.