Minister warns Malaysian firm on expats’ MRP

Malaysian IRIS Corporation Berhad must enroll 5,000 Bangladeshi expatriates in Saudi Arabia every day for giving them Machine Readable Passport (MRP) or the company will have to face actions, said the expatriates' welfare and overseas employment minister today.

Engineer Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, who is also head of an advisory committee on issuing MRP for expatriates, said this emerging from a meeting of the committee.

The International Civil Aviation Organisation has set November 24 deadline for ensuring machine readable passport for all. From November 25 onwards, foreign governments might not accept the old passports.

"We will have to enroll around 22 lakh expatriates now working in Saudi Arabia by this timeframe," the minister added.

"Around eight months remain in our hand to meet the deadline. We will have to enroll around 5,000 expatriates for MRP per day," he said.