Kathmandu. With the country’s stock of passports fast depleting, the government is looking at an administrative crisis that could derail the plans of thousands of migrant workers, students and travellers in coming months.
Officials at the Department of Passports say they only have 750,000 passports in stock, which could barely last six months. Among the three passport categories—diplomatic, official and ordinary—the department will soon be running low on official passports as two battalions of Nepali personnel are gearing up for peacekeeping operations abroad, according to two officials at the department.
“If a credible alternative is not found immediately, there will be a serious crisis because the passport demand will likely surge after Japan and Malaysia open their doors for foreign employment,” an official at the department told the Post on condition of anonymity. Japan has announced that it will be accepting nearly 350,000 workers from nine countries, including Nepal, over the next five years, while Malaysia will be taking in around 100,000 workers.
Once these two lucrative destinations open for foreign employment, the present stock will not go beyond May, according to the department’s calculations. As with South Korea, Japan requires a passport to apply for the language test before applying for a work permit. The Department of Passports currently issues around 1,500 passports every day.
“Though we believe that the stock of passports will last a year and a half, it will not go beyond six months if foreign employment opens in Malaysia and Japan because people will be applying for passport renewals as well,” another official at the department told the Post.
Recently, around 42,000 passports were issued through the passport department in Kathmandu in just 23 working days after the US opened its Diversity Visa lottery, which now requires a passport number. This number does not include the passports that were issued from outside Kathmandu.
As per The Katmandu post, After cancelling the global tender for e-passports, the government decided to procure e-passports from the firm that will be setting up a security printing press in the country.
