Passport rush surprises MoFA men

REPUBLICA

KATHMANDU, Oct 5: The number of people seeking ordinary passport has gone up sharply as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) prepares to start issuing machine-readable passports (MRP) within one and a half months time.

MoFA officials themselves are baffled at the increase in demand for ordinary passport that coincidentally came after MoFA inked a deal with French security printer Oberthur Technologies in August-end for printing MRPs.

“We had initially thought that the number of people seeking ordinary passports would go down sharply after we inked deal,” said MOFA spokesperson Harischandra Ghimire. “But the number has instead gone up dramatically.”

Officials had thought that the number of people seeking ordinary passports would go down as the passport would be valid for five years. The MRP, however, will be valid for ten years.

According to Ghimire, MoFA used to receive about 1,200-1,500 applications for passports per day before the deal was signed. “These days we have been receiving 1,500-2,000 applications per day,” he said.

MOFA officials have apprehensions that the increase in the number of applicants for ordinary passports could not be just natural. “We fear that some foreign employment agencies engaged in fraudulent activities could have also encouraged people to acquire ordinary passports, which are prone to forgery,” a MOFA official said. An ordinary passport allows fraudulent manpower agencies to fake particulars including photographs.

But the foreign employment entrepreneurs reject the allegations.

Gyan Prasad Gaire, vice-president of Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies, argues that lucrative job offers in various countries including Malaysia could have could have caused the rush. “The demand for workers in Malaysia and other countries has increased lately,” he said, adding: “The salary has also been lucrative due to increase in the exchange rate of Malaysian currency.”

Nevertheless, the government data on those leaving for employment in Malaysia and Gulf countries do not substantiate Gaire´s claim. The number of those leaving for employment in the last two months is instead on the downward trend.

According to data provided by the Department of Foreign Employment, altogether 10,714 people left for Malaysia in the month of Bhadra (mid July - mid August). The number was 12,795 in the previous month.

Data show that the number of those leaving for Quatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE for employment likewise has gone down considerably during the past two months.