Abdul Khalaque has lived in Malaysia for 14 years, and now he needs another renewal of his visa. But he is in fear losing the chance, hence his job, for delays in getting a new passport.
Hailed from Tangail district, he landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport Sunday. Talking to the Financial Express at HSIA, he narrated his effort in futility, so far, for getting an MRP issued from the mission in Kula Lumpur.
He said three months ago he had applied to the mission office for MRP (machine-readable passport) but did not get it yet. As a result, after expiry of the date, he will be an illegal immigrant back in the ASEAN country.
"Several times I have wanted help from the government officers in Malaysia but didn't get any response from them as the MRP project is going on very slowly," said Mr Khalaque.
His is not the lone case. Same problem is affecting around 7 million Bangladeshi migrant workers in countries around the world. If the government fails to issue the Machine Readable Passport (MRP) within the fast-approaching deadline, many of them may be in trouble, officials said.
They said the Bangladeshi migrant workers have been going under the threat of losing jobs in failure of obtaining MRP before the cut-off time--November 24, 2015. Thereafter, they will be considered illegal workers.
A large number of Bangladeshi expatriates said they have been facing MRP passport peril as the Bangladesh mission officials abroad are not taking care to provide them the latest-technology passport.
They said the government offices abroad have been facing serious difficulty over the issuance of MRP within the timeframe. As a result, a large number of Bangladeshis working in a number of countries will have to pack their bags.
Mohammad Ali, hailed from Kishoreganj district, also said at the airport in Dhaka that he has lived in Saudi Arabia for 7 years. He had applied for the MRP on an urgent basis, but, in four months, he failed to have it.
He said durations of visas of many of Bangladeshis have been over but for lack of MRP they cannot apply for visa extension.
He said MRP is now mandatory for visa renewal but there is no way to get an MRP on an early date as only handwritten passports can be availed in a short time.
Abdus Salam, who has lived in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) for 10 years, said, "Now I don't have any way without MRP as the handwritten passports cannot guarantee hassle-free passage or stay abroad."
He pointed out that, under the set international aviation rules, after the year 2015 the KSA government will not accept handwritten passports. "But the Bangladesh mission totally failed to provide that."
He feared that if the Bangladeshi migrant workers could not show MRP, a large number of them would lose their jobs for want of extended akama or work permit.
A number of Bangladeshi migrant workers also said at HSIA that, in recent times, many countries in the world have stopped accepting the handwritten passport as they are turning to implementation of the international aviation rules.
They said many countries have already asked all, including Bangladeshi migrant workers, to collect the MRP due to updating of their migrant status, including visa renewal.
If the Bangladeshi migrants fail to show MRP, more than 7 million wage-earners on the world market will lose their jobs and the country may count a substantial remittance loss.
According to the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) there are 9 million Bangladeshi migrants in different countries of the world, including about 2.6 million in the KSA, 2.3 million in UAE and over 0.7 million in Malaysia.
The gulf countries, including KSA and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), are the largest job markets for the Bangladeshi workers and so remittance flow into the country depends significantly now on introducing MRP system for new visa issuance.
Four years ago, the government had taken an initiative to provide the MRP to all migrant workers. But, to date, only 1.1 million migrants have got the latest mandatory requirement for them.
The sources said if the present trend continued in 2015, the high-priority project will be able to provide a total of 0.4 million MRPs to migrant workers, leaving out more than 7 million.
With the existing capacity the authorities now could complete procedures for only 13,000 a day to fulfill the MRP demand from locals and migrant workers while it needs to process a minimum of 22,000 applications to meet the deadline.
Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment (MoEWOE) sources say the Bangladesh mission in Riyadh at present can handle 700 applications a day for converting the handwritten passports to machine-readable ones while it needs to process a minimum of 8,000 to 10,000 to meet the deadline.
If the current pace goes on, by the end of 2015 the mission in KSA could issue about 120,000 passports. But the KSA is the largest destination for Bangladeshi migrants, with more than 3 million staying over there.
An official of MoEWOE said in 2015 MRP showing is mandatory but the present condition is easily understandable that the process will not be completed within the timeframe.
"We are very worried as to how the mission can issue MRPs within the timeframe. For lack of MPRs by the end of 2015, a large number of migrant workers would fail to extend their visa time," he said.
The official said they have been observing the foreign mission officials abroad not taking care of the expatriates as, till now, most of the Bangladeshi migrant workers are staying out of MPR. As a result, a large number of workers are going to turn illegal.
Dr. Khondaker Showkat Hossain, secretary of the MoEWOE, said for providing MRP to the expatriates they have taken some initiatives.
He noted that the MRP project is under the Ministry of Home Affairs, so the ministry could say why the project was proceeding so slowly.
"To provide MRPs to all migrant workers the MoEWOE is now jointly working with the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," he said.
Siraj Uddin, additional director-general of the Department of Immigration and Passports, said for a lack of adequate manpower and machinery the MRP project was going slow.
"We are very serious about providing MRPs to all within 2015 as the government has turned to outsourcing and signed an agreement with two foreigner companies from Saudi Arabia and Malaysia," he said.
The ADG said several times more than 0.2 million Bangladeshis spend some time in here every year for holidaying. "If they take their MRPs before leaving Dhaka, the pressure on the missions will automatically come down drastically."
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