Govt to revamp passport regime
Nepal’s Machine Readable Passport ‘receives’ ISO certification
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs ( MoFA ) and the Department of Passport (DoP) are preparing to institute a series of reforms in the issuance of passports to maintain their quality and are working to phase out handwritten passports by November 2015.
According to senior MoFA and DoP officials, the ministry is holding discussions to issue e-passports, phase out handwritten passports and increase the number of pages in the current Machine Readable Passport ( MRP ) from 36 to around 72.
Many frequent flyers and Nepali migrants working in Gulf countries have complained that the limited number of pages in the MRP forces them to frequently renew their passports, burdening them financially.
The government decided to stop issuing handwritten passports in 2010 and decided to adopt the MRP . It had committed to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to replace all handwritten passports by November 2015, after which they will be considered invalid. Although there is no international obligation, the MoFA and DoP are in discussion to adopt e-passports, also known as biometric passports. Sensing the urgency in reforming the quality of passports, Minister for Foreign Affairs Madhav Ghimire on Sunday inspected the DoP office and instructed officials to gear up to adopt e-passport. The minister also instructed to begin the process to form a taskforce on how the DoP could seamlessly migrate to electronic passport as early as possible, read a statement issued after his visit to the DoP. “Replacing hundreds of thousands of handwritten passports with MRP by November 2015 is a tall order for us,” said a DoP official. “To meet the deadline, we need additional human resource.” On a daily basis, the DoP issues more than 2,500 passports, which would likely go up once it starts distributing e-passports.
However, issuing next generation e-passport is not a big deal, said other officials. It simply requires the insertion of an electronic chip with all the detailed information of the receiver into the MRP . “I do not see much difference while adopting the e-passport. After the installation of MRP technology, the DoP has revamped its administrative structure, shortened passport delivery time, eased procedures and maintained archives, all of which are needed to introduce the e-passport,” said DoP chief Yadav Khanal. “E-passports are sophisticated in terms of technology, tamper-free and less susceptible to fraud.”
Despite all their shortcomings, Nepal’s MRP s were recently certified by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). “It means that our product and passport delivery system have met international standards, which is a matter of pride for us,” said a MoFA official. This announcement has yet to be made public.
Published on: 27 March 2013 | The Kathmandu Post
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