Row Over MRP, Manual Passport

UAE assures of meeting complexities

6 July 2010, 18:00 PM

Staff Correspondent

The United Arab Emirates have given assurance of addressing the complexities that arose over machine readable passport (MRP) and manual passport recently, said a foreign ministry spokesperson in Dhaka yesterday. The assurance came when Bangladesh Ambassador to the UAE Nazmul Quaunine met top immigration officials in Abu Dhabi on Monday, said Saida Muna Tasneem, director general of the foreign ministry's external publicity wing. The ambassador met the UAE immigration authorities, as they were refusing to issue visas to the Bangladeshi jobseekers without MRPs. The authorities also questioned why there were no names of legal guardians of the jobseekers in the MRPs. "The UAE authorities said a confusion arose when Bangladeshi jobseekers were submitting both MRP and handwritten passports." "The authorities also said that there was nothing to worry about it," Tasneem told The Daily Star referring to a report sent by Nazmul Quaunine to the foreign ministry in Dhaka yesterday. If any confusion arises over the passport of any Bangladeshi jobseeker the UAE authorities would contact the Bangladesh mission there and solve the problem, Tasneem said quoting the report. The UAE authorities got an impression that Bangladesh was issuing MRPs for all. When the Bangladesh ambassador explained that MRPs would replace the manual passports in phases, they appreciated it, the spokesperson said. India and Pakistan also had to go through the same transition when they first introduced MRPs, she said adding, "The discussion ended with a positive note." The meeting was held just a day after Foreign Minister Dipu Moni convened a meeting with 12 labour-receiving countries at her office and requested them to accept both types of passports until MRPs are fully introduced. Dipu Moni also sought their opinion on how some additional information, including legal guardians' names and addresses could be incorporated in the MRPs.