Govt plans to seek more time

The government is unconcerned over the delay in issuing machine readable passports (MRP) to at least 25 lakh Bangladeshi migrant workers in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Malaysia.

Authorities of the Department of Immigration and Passport (DIP) yesterday expressed satisfaction over the current progress of issuing MRPs, although the deadline to finish the job is less than four months away.

The International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO) set November 24 as the last date the expatriates can use the old hand-written passports. If the migrant workers fail to get MRPs before the date, they could lose their jobs and face deportation. Bangladesh missions and Malaysian company IRIS Corporation Berhad are in charge of enrolling the expatriates for MRPs.      

Talking to The Daily Star, NM Zeaul Alam, director general of DIP, said they were not worried about the deadline as they would seek an extension of the deadline from ICAO. 

At an inter-ministerial meeting held in the civil aviation and tourism ministry, the issue of seeking more time was discussed. Zeaul Alam said IRIS is failing to reach its daily target of enrolling expatriates.

At a meeting in March, the government set a target for IRIS to ensure at least 9,000 enrolments in Saudi and 5,000 in the UAE and Malaysia.