Bangladesh minister’s visit helps speed up passports distribution

RIYADH: A senior government official from Dhaka, who visited Riyadh last week, has sorted out technical issues to expedite issuing 1.5 million machine readable passports (MRP) to Bangladeshi expatriates in the Kingdom.
Information and Communication Technology State Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak helped the mission resolve snags connected with the local government division and department of immigration and passport to speed up the issuance of MRP passports to his workers here in the Kingdom.
Visiting the collection processing center in Shifa with Bangladesh Ambassador Golam Moshi, Minister Palak found that 760,000 passports have been issued and another similar number will be delivered by Nov. 24.
There are some 1.5 million Bangladeshi expatriates in the Kingdom and they must have their documents processed before the set date. The new MRP is priced at SR125 for workers, while professionals have to pay SR425 for their passports which contain 48 pages.
Ambassador Moshi said that his embassy and the consulate have made special arrangements to issue the new passports before the deadline. He said the visiting minister helped the mission sort out technical problems which were slowing down the issuance of new passports.
“We have special centers in Dammam and eight other places to help workers get their passports cleared in time,” the envoy said, adding that the mission has outsourced private company IRIS to facilitate the smooth issuance of the new passports.
In addition to consular services offered in Riyadh, the Bangladesh Embassy has also organized consular services in Jubail, Al-Ahsa, Dammam, Al-Jouf, Sakaka and Al-Qassim.
The Jeddah Consulate also offers consular services in Khamis Mushayt, Jazan, Najran, Tabuk, Yanbu, Al-Baha and Madinah.
The Bangladesh Embassy renewed its call on Sunday urging its countrymen to obtain their machine readable passports (MRP) as quickly as possible.
“Although the deadline for the issuance of such passports has been set for November 2015, we do not want a rush at the last moment,” a senior official from the Riyadh mission told Arab News on Sunday.
Around 750,000 Bangladeshi migrant workers have benefited from an amnesty offer for illegal workers to correct their status by the Saudi authorities.