Increasing passport validity will help citizens

The government is considering a move to increase validity of passport from five to 10 years. If this step is taken, a lot of Bangladeshis, including migrant workers and frequent travellers, will be extremely benefitted.

Getting a passport renewed is rather time-consuming as every day a lot of people go to the passport offices to apply for new passports, renewal of passports and so on.

A few days ago, I had gone to the nearest passport office from my house to renew my passport for a further five years. There was a long queue. It took me almost five hours to complete my work and it was very exhausting.

The existing validity period of five years of passports has only increased the suffering of the citizens. Most SAARC countries, including India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, now have passports with validity of 10 years.

While increasing the passport validity to 10 year, the government can increase the passport charge. This will be a win-win situation for everyone.

Mohammed Fahim

Moghbazar, Dhaka