among the expatriate Bangladeshis in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is increasing as many are not receiving re-issued machine readable passports (MRPs) for a long time. Bangladesh Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Golam Moshi, in a recent letter to the secretary of the Security Service Division of the Home Ministry, informed that the Department of Immigration and Passport (DIP) has failed to supply a number of MRPs to expatriate Bangladeshis in Saudi Arabia despite completing the enrolments two months ago, sources in the government said.
After receiving the letter, the Security Service Division asked the DIP to take necessary steps to send all the MRPs enrolled so far to the expatriates Bangladeshis after re-issuing these, the sources added.
Ambassador Golam Moshi, in the letter sent on May 30 to the secretary of the Security Service Division said that the passport and visa wing of the mission has enrolled a total of 6,894 passports for re-issue of MRPs to the expatriate Bangladeshis in KSA in April this year. Of the enrolments, only 1,627 MRPs have been supplied to the embassy offices from the DIP so far, creating dissatisfaction among the expatriates in KSA over the delay.
The expatriates Bangladeshis are likely to face various problems in the country if their passports are not re-issued in time.
Despite the embassy informing the matter to the DIP three months ago, the DIP authorities are yet to take necessary steps in this regard, the letter said.
Due to the circumstances, Ambassador Moshi, in his letter, sought permission from the home ministry to manually renew the passports by the embassy officials for a 1-year period for the expatriates, who are yet to get their MRPs re-issued by the DIP.
The Bangladesh mission in Saudi Arabia has also identified seven challenges in providing passport services
by the passport wing of the embassy, working under the Security Service Division of the Home Ministry, to some 21 lakh Bangladeshis working in the gulf country.
The challenges include shortage of manpower in the passport and visa wing, problem in enrollment, no scope for changing information of the MRPs during re-issue, and inspection and monitoring of the passport and visa wing of the mission by the ministry.
In the letter, the ambassador informed that there are only one first secretary, one administrative officer and three office assistants working in the newly set-up passport and visa wing of the embassy.
“It is challenging to provide required services to the expatriate Bangladeshis in KSA with this small manpower of the wing. And to offer smooth operation, manpower of the wing needs to be increased as soon as possible,” he said.
“At least 500 to 800 expatriate Bangladeshis are coming to the embassy to get consular service everyday. It is difficult to provide service to the expatriates Bangladeshis by only one official,” the letter added.
Golam Moshi also said that no official from the Security Service Division of the Home Ministry visited the passport and visa wing, which operating under it, in the last 21 months that it has opened.
When contacted, a high official of the DIP told The Independent that they are re-issuing some MRPs to expatriate Bangladeshis in KSA after police verification as per the directives of the home ministry.
“It is alleged that there are some Rohingya people who went to Saudi Arabia by obtaining Bangladeshi passports. The embassy has already identified some Rohingya people holding Bangladeshi passports, and that’s why we are not re-issuing some MRPs without police verification,” he said.
“The DIP is very much aware of the importance of supplying MRPs in different foreign missions after enrollment,” the official added.
On February 26, 2017, an agreement was inked by the government between the DIP and the US multinational courier FedEx Express to deliver MRPs to Bangladeshi expatriates within a week of time.
Earlier, the MRPs were supplied to expatriate Bangladeshis through diplomatic bags. But it took at least two-and-a-half months for a Bangladeshi expatriate abroad to get an MRP if sent through the diplomatic bags.
Currently, MRPs are being supplied to expatriate Bangladeshis working in 52 countries through 65 missions abroad using courier services.
MRPs were introduced in the country on April 1, 2010 to speed up clearance and improve security for travellers. The passports department said at least 1.75 crore MRPs have been issued to the citizens so far.