Starting Wednesday, January 8, Bangladeshi expatriates applying for e-passports will also receive SMS notifications, Deputy Press Secretary to the Chief Adviser, Abul Kalam Azad Mazumder, announced at a press briefing on Tuesday evening at the Foreign Service Academy in Dhaka. Previously, this service was only available within the country.
Citing Major General Mohammad Nurul Anwar, Director General of the Department of Passports, the Deputy Press Secretary said, “The Director General of the Department of Passports shared some good news with us today. Bangladeshi citizens who apply for e-passports currently receive an SMS when their passport is ready for delivery. While this SMS service has been operational domestically, it will be extended to expatriates starting tomorrow.”
He added, “Once the passport is ready for delivery, an SMS will be sent to the mobile number provided by our expatriate brothers and sisters during their application. We hope this will reduce some of the hassles they face.”
Regarding Machine-Readable Passports (MRP), the Deputy Press Secretary stated, “Due to procedural complications, nearly 197,000 MRPs for expatriates were pending printing. Over the past three weeks, 182,745 passports have been delivered to various embassies, and distribution will commence shortly.”
Discussing initiatives to reduce harassment faced by passport applicants, Abul Kalam Azad Mazumder explained, “Efforts are ongoing to make the passport collection process more convenient across various passport offices. One such initiative is aimed at eradicating middlemen from the process. The passport department has informed us of a decision to address this issue. Many applicants use nearby computer shops for application submission, where broker syndicates often operate, causing inconvenience to applicants. To overcome this problem, a decision has been made to outsource and appoint proper agents to assist applicants. The passport office believes this will significantly reduce the influence of middlemen.”
