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The home ministry has issued a notification abolishing the requirement for police verification when applying for a Bangladesh passport, a day after receiving approval from Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus.
The notification, titled "Relaxation of Police Verification Requirement for Passport Issuance”, is part of the interim government's efforts to simplify passport services.
The notification states that:
- For new passport applications, applicants will be issued passports based on the online verified information from their National Identity Card, or NID, without the need for police verification.
- For Bangladeshi citizens abroad and minors, passports will be issued without police verification based on online-verified birth registration certificate details.
- For passport renewals, if there are changes in essential details such as name, parents' names, date of birth, and place of birth from the existing passport, the passport will be issued using the information on the NID.
The directive, signed by Additional Secretary Kazi Golam Tousif of the ministry’s Security Service Division, will take immediate effect in the public interest.
On Monday, the home ministry sent a summary to the chief advisor, detailing the necessity of removing police verification for passports.
The interim prime minister approved it on the same day.
The issue of obtaining passports without police verification has been a topic of discussion since the interim administration took power.
The process gained momentum following Yunus's announcement on the matter.
At the Deputy Commissioner’s Conference on Sunday, Yunu said: "The birth certificate given to me was not subject to any police verification. The NID issued to me also did not require waiting for police verification; it was granted as a citizen.
“A passport is also an identity document for a citizen of this country, and there is no need for police verification here."
“Removing police verification has been part of our plans for a long time,” Home Advisor Jahangir Alam Chowdhury told journalists on Monday.
"It frees the public from unnecessary hassle. Police verification will no longer be needed for those who have a national identity card.”
Following this, the home ministry's Security Services Division took steps to issue passports based on NID information.
The proposal summary was then forwarded to the Chief Advisor's Office, where it received approval from Yunus, his press wing said in a statement.