Many Bangladeshi expatriates are likely to be in big trouble if the government fails to provide them with machine-readable passports (MRPs) by the deadline set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), officials concerned said.
Foreign ministry officials said many of around 5.0 million Bangladeshi migrants are now in trouble due to the delay in the process of converting the manual passports to MRPs.
If the authorities concerned cannot replace manual passports with MRPs by November 2015, many Bangladeshi workers and professionals in different countries, particularly in the Middle East, may be forced to return home, they added.
A good number of missions are now facing a challenge of delivering the MRPs to expatriates in time for lack of necessary outsourcing, workstations, funds and legal obligations in some foreign countries.
The rate of MRPs being provided to Bangladeshi expatriates residing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is poor for the lack of proper initiatives by selected companies and legal complexities.
Many selected outsourcing companies are not capable of delivering MPRs properly, the ministry of foreign affairs (MoFA) data show.
The Bangladeshi missions in the United States of America (USA) and the European Union (EU) countries are under pressure due to insufficient workstations. But there is no plan to get outsourcing service in those countries, the data mentioned.
Presently, the government has taken an initiative to expedite the process of delivering MRPs to all Bangladeshi expatriates across the world. As per the move, measures have been taken to deliver MRPs separately to workers in the countries in the Asia-Pacific region and Africa and the countries in the EU and the USA, according to the data.
Under the project, some 19 workstations have been proposed for the USA and the EU countries and 36 workstations for Asia-Pacific and African countries. Inferential expenditure of the proposed workstations has been fixed at Tk 182.74 million, including licence charge, the data mentioned.
An official said earnings from the MRP project will be Tk 6.0 billion.
A competent source said the missions have limited capacity and other necessary resources. A number of workstations and mobile units should be established in the KSA, the UAE and Oman to expedite the process of delivering MRPs.
The ongoing activities will live up to expectations if some workstations open and necessary manpower is appointed on a short-term basis.
Talking to the FE, a foreign ministry official said: "We are trying to shift necessary workstations and mobile units from Singapore to those countries through the authorities concerned."
State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told the FE Friday: "We are trying our best to deliver MRPs to our people living abroad. We hope that we will be able to provide MRPs within the deadline." When contacted, Mustafa Kamal, Secretary (Bilateral, Training and Consular) of the MoFA, declined to make any comment in this regard.
A senior official of the MoFA says that there is no possibility of delivering the MRPs to Bangladeshi migrants within the deadline. He said delivering MRPs is being delayed mainly due to lack of necessary logistics by the ministries concerned.
The authorities concerned need proper support and funds to provide MRPs to Bangladeshis in time. Otherwise it is quite impossible, he said.
Thousands would face problems when they would lose their jobs, he said, adding that they would become illegal residents in some countries with expired passports.
An official said the MoFA is monitoring the activities being carried out by different missions. At the same time, they are pressing them to deliver MRPs as early as possible, he added.
Muhammad Zulqar Nain, director general of consular and welfare wing of the MoFA said: "It is possible to supply MRPs to Bangladeshi residents within the deadline if necessary logistic supports are provided to the missions concerned."
He said 54 foreign missions are providing MRPs. "To my knowledge, about 1.4 million MRPs were collected by Bangladeshis living in different countries. In addition, more or less 1.5 million MRPs were sent to different missions," he added.
All handwritten passports need to be converted to machine-readable passports by November 2015, the deadline set by the ICAO to phase out all non-MRPs globally.
At present, about 8.5 million Bangladeshi workers and professionals are residing in different countries and there are 56 missions across the world, according to the MoFA data.
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