Applicants to get e-passport within 72 hours of application
Shaheen Khandaker of DOT
This is for the first time in Bangladesh that the customers of passports are going to get e-passport of 10 years’ length. General fee without VAT for five years’ tenured passport is 3500 taka while the fee will be 5,000 taka for 10 years.
No documents are needed to be verified in case of e-passport application, according to the circular of the passport office. Though no verification process will be needed, still the customers will get their passports in hand only after police verification. It was learnt from a concerned official in the Department of Immigration and Passport that all out preparations are being taken for introducing e-passport on a speedy basis. Meantime, circular relating to tenure of electronics passport, application form and determination of fees has been issued from the Ministry of Home.
It was known from the circular that the applicant will get the e-passport in his hand only after submission of very urgent fees to obtain it.
According to the circular issued by the Ministry of Home and sources in the Department of Passport that e-passports will be 48 pages and 64 pages in size. The emergency fee needed for five years’ long and 48 pages’ e-passport will be 5,000 taka and the fee will be 7,000 taka in case of 10 years. The fee will be 7500 taka in case of very urgent applications for five years’ long e-passport and it will be 9,000 taka in case of 10 years’ long passport.
On the other hand, general fee for 64 pages long passport for five years’ term will be 5500 taka without VAT and it will be 7000 taka in case of 10 years. The emergency fee will be 7000 taka for five years and passport containing same number of pages and the fee will be 9000 taka in case of 10 years. The customer will need to pay 10,500 taka to get the “very urgent” passport of five years’ length and containing 64 pages and fee will be 12,000 taka in case of 10 years’ long passport.
Meantime, the circular issued from Outbound branch-1 of Safety Services Deparment, Ministry of Home on August 1 stated that required, respective fee has been determined under two categories namely “general applicant” and “workers and students” to enable the expatriate Bangladesh in getting the e-passport in their hands. Bangladeshi citizens living abroad will not be able to apply under “very urgent” category even if they can get the general and emergency passports.
General applicants will have to pay 100 USD to obtain a 48 pages long passport of five years tenure while need to pay 150 USD to get emergency passport. General fee will be 150 USD in case of five years long passport containing 64 pages and emergency fee will be 200 USD. Expatriate Bangladeshi citizens will need to pay 175 USD altogether for 10 years’ long passport containing same number of pages and 225 USD for urgent passports. But the amount of fee has been reduced for the workers and students living abroad.
Workers and students living abroad will need to pay 30 USD in case of general applications to get 48 pages long passport and 45 USD to have emergency passport in case of five years’ long passport. The fee will be 50 USD and 75 USD in case of getting a 10years’ long passport. The fee will be 150 USD and 200 USD in case of 64 pages passport and the fee will be 175 USD and 225 USD in case of 10 years’ long passport.
But the embassy provided surcharge too will be added along with these fees submitted by general residents, workers or students. Applicants will not be needed even to attach their photographs in these highly modern passport forms. Minor applicants who have no NID card will have to add the NID card numbers of their parents. Even if the birth registration certificates of the applicants under 18 will be taken as documents, the application can be submitted through NID Cards or birth registration certificates if they are 18 years old.
But the applicants above 18 will be needed NID cards for sure.
Translated by Audity Falguni.