Passport in a day or two

Your passport has expired, and you have to make an urgent foreign trip. There's no need to worry.

The government plans to renew and even issue passports in just 48 hours. But the service will cost more.

In cases, if someone applies in the morning, they will get the passport in the evening, said Major General Masud Rezwan, director general of Department of Immigration and Passports.

"We've sent a proposal to the home ministry for introducing super express service, keeping in mind the patients needing immediate medical attention or migrant workers whose passport expired when they still had visas," he told The Daily Star yesterday.

The passport department is currently issuing passport within a day or two on humanitarian grounds, but the officials now want to avail the service to all, he added.

"Although we mentioned two days for super express service, we will deliver the service within a day. If anyone applies in the morning, he or she will get the passport in the evening."

The top official of passport department said super express passport delivery will not be applicable to those who do not have police verification.

This new facility will be available when the government starts issuing e-passport from January next year.

Officials said the super express service is likely to cost between Tk 12,000 and 14,000.

Citizens now pay Tk 3,450 to get passport in 21 days. Express service now costs Tk 6,900.

Besides the existing 48-page passport, the DIP plans to introduce a new 64-page one for people who frequently travel abroad, said the DG.

The department also proposed to increase the validity of the passport to 10 years from five. It will benefit those who go abroad for study or work.

Passports with five years' validity will also be available.

On June 21, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) approved a project, titled “Introduction of E-Passport and Automatic Border Control System in Bangladesh” with a cost of around Tk 4,636 crore.

The e-passports would gradually replace the machine readable ones, which would be usable until expiration. Holders of these passports will be issued e-passports afterwards, he said.

According to DIP officials the e-passport would increase security and accessibility of Bangladeshi passports worldwide.

These passports, also known as biometric or digital, have embedded electronic microprocessor chips which contain biometric information used to authenticate the identity of the holders.