Nepal's diplomatic missions abroad have called all Nepali nationals to apply for replacing their handwritten passports with machine readable passports as soon as possible to avoid last minute rush.

Reminding the Nepali nationals staying abroad that the handwritten passports would not be valid after November 24, 2015, Nepali missions in Australia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and France recently published a notice urging all Nepalis still holding ordinary passports to replace them with MRP .

Nepali Embassy in Canberra issued a notice last week that the service seekers might face difficulties to get the document on time if they procrastinate.

Earlier, Embassy of Nepal in Saudi Arabia had issued a similar notice urging all Nepalis, mostly migrant workers, to convert their ordinary passports to MRP .

Only the Department of Passport based at Narayanhiti in Kathmandu is authorised to issue MRP , for which passport seekers living abroad have to apply through the Nepali missions. It began issuing MRP on December 26, 2010. Talking to THT, Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Udaya Raj Pandey said one has to wait for up to four months after the submission of the application to receive their passports. He said efforts were under way to ensure issuance of passports to the applicants within a couple of months.

According to the International Civil Aviation Oraganisation, all countries have to convert their ordinary handwritten passports into MRP by November 24, 2015.
After that ordinary passports would not be recognised on international flights.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the DoP and Nepalese missions abroad, however, have no data on the number of Nepalis who possess handwritten passports. But according to guesstimate, half of the Nepalis living abroad hold ordinary passports.

Earlier, the MoFA had sent circulars to all Nepalese missions, directing them to take necessary steps to ensure that all Nepali citizens registered with them acquired MRP .

Director General of DoP Ramesh Khanal said it would be difficult for DoP to issue documents on time if there's a last minute rush to replace the passports.

Published on: 1 February 2014 | The Himalayan Times