Passport validity should be extended to 10 years

The passport office recently arranged National Development Fair in Dhaka's Agargaon. An attractive thing for most visitors to the fair was the Super Express Service which facilitates renewal of passport on an emergency basis. They could renew their passports within five hours after paying an additional charge.

I think the passport office should introduce this super-fast service in the passport offices as well.

Getting a passport is still quite troublesome. Many Bangladeshis are going abroad on various purposes daily. So there is a steady pressure of passport-seekers at the passport offices. It takes almost a day to complete passport-related work. And this can be very exhausting.

Making or renewing a passport is very troublesome and time-consuming for common people. A validity of just five years of a passport has only increased the sufferings of citizens. In our neighbouring India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, the validity of passports is for 10 years.

If the validity of passports is extended to 10 years, it will reduce the sufferings of common people and also reduce pressure on passport offices.

Mohammed Sohel Hara

Banasree, Dhaka

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