This chaotic situation may sound far-fetched to some. But it is exactly what our country is going to face on November 24, 2015 when all hand-written passports become invalid as per the deadline set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to phase out such passports.[break]
Department of Passports (DoP), though aware of the gravity of the problem, is in a quandary what measures they can adopt to avoid such an unpleasant situation. "We are aware of the problem that the country could face in the face of the ICAO deadline. But we are already facing a manpower and resources crunch in meeting the existing demand, let alone do anything more" said Acting Director General of DoP Yadav Khanal.
Nepal started issuing MRPs on December 26, 2010-- nine months after the original deadline of April 10, 2010 set by ICAO for starting to issue MRPs. Officials at DoP said some 700,000 MRPs have been issued so far.
DOP, the central government body entrusted with the issue of passports, has been issuing over 2,000 MRPs a day on average. As it is difficult enough to meet the current demand for MRPs with the limited human and other resources at its disposal, DoP has not yet formally invited applications from those who wish to replace handwritten passports that are still valid.
Officials at DoP, however, said they are mulling to start work to phase out all handwritten passports on a campaign footing despite the resource crunch. "Given our limitations, we are now working out a modality for getting the job done," Khanal informed.
The biggest problem, according to DoP officials, will be providing passports to those living abroad.
It is estimated that the number of Nepalis workers in various Gulf countries and other labor destinations alone exceeds 2.4 million. Since the number of Nepali students overseas, who have handwritten passports, is equally high, a rough estimate is that over 2.5 million passports will become invalid when the ICAO deadline arrives.
Officials said they are now working to gradually replace the handwritten passports with MRPs, with Nepalese embassies abroad acting as ´focal points´ for the purpose. "We are now mulling to set up online centers both within and outside the country for people to submit their applications for MRPs," they said.
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