Bangladesh passport - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Bangladesh passport is issued to citizens of Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

for international travel. The passport may be issued by the Government of The People's Republic of Bangladesh or by any of its overseas missions to any Bangladeshi citizen who are citizens by birth or by descent. The passport of Bangladesh is valid in all countries of the world except Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

due to the absence of any diplomatic relations between the two countries, as Bangladesh does not recognize the state of Israel. A passport can be issued by the Government of Bangladesh to non-nationals as well.

Types of Bangladesh Passport

There are three types of passports that a Bangladeshi citizen may hold.

Regular or Tourist passport (green cover): This is the most common type of passport. Any citizen of Bangladesh may possess a "regular" or "tourist" passport for international travel. Children traveling under the age of 10 years do not require this passport and may travel under their mother's passport. The maximum validity period of a "tourist" or "regular" passport is 10 years.

Official passport (blue cover): Government officials of Bangladesh are entitled to carry this type of passport. It provides the holders with visa free access to certain countries that usually don't allow visa free access to "regular" or "tourist" passport holders. The "official" passport is identified by a blue stamp on the first page that reads "Official". Citizens holding an "official" passport are subject to restrictions when leaving Bangladesh. In most cases, they have to provide a valid reason for leaving Bangladesh, such as a business trip, or medical treatment. "Official" passport holders are not usually allowed to leave for vacations or pleasure-seeking trips. Like the "regular" or "tourist" passport, the "official" passport also has a green cover. The new Machine Readable official passports of Bangladesh are to sport a blue cover.

Diplomatic passport (red cover): This type of passport can only be held by Bangladeshi citizens who are members or staff of the diplomatic community. This passport provides visa free access to more countries than the "official" passport. "Diplomatic" passports can be distinctly identified by their red cover which sets them apart from the green-colored "tourist", "regular" or "official" passports.

Machine-readable Passport

The Bangladesh Government has implemented a project to replace 6.6 million Bangladeshi passports with new machine-readable passport

Machine-readable passport

A Machine Readable Passport is a travel document where the data on the identity page is encoded in optical character recognition format. Many countries began to issue machine readable travel documents in the 1980s....

s. According to a guideline of The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Machine-readable Passport (MRP) and Machine-readable Visa (MRV) are issued by Bangladesh Government from April, 2010. However, all traditional non-MR passports will be honored as a bona fide travel document issued by the Bangladesh Government until it expires. All traditional non-MR passports must be withdrawn from circulation by November 2015.

The Bangladesh government will set up 85 new passport offices and six visa cells at home and abroad for issuing Machine-readable Passports (MRPs) and Machine-readable Visas (MRVs). For non resident Bangladeshis 66 passport offices will be set up at 66 Bangladesh missions and consulates abroad, who will issue the Machine-readable Passports. The replacement of all the passports will take almost 3 years, which will fall inside the deadline of November 2015.

Handwritten passports

Information about the passport holder are spread across seven or more pages in the contemporary Bangladesh passport. The field names (e.g. name) are written in English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, Bangla and French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

, with the field values (e.g. Mr. Abdur Rahman) is written in English

English language

only. No information regarding gender or faith are required.
The inside cover contains the date and place of issuance of the passport as well as the declaration of The President

President of Bangladesh

Since 1991, the President of Bangladesh is the head of state, a largely ceremonial post elected by the parliament. Since 1996, the President's role becomes more important after the term of the government has finished, when his executive authority is enhanced as laid down in the constitution of the...

These are to request and require in the name of the President of the People's Republic of Bangladesh all those whom it may concern to allow the bearer to pass freely without let or hindrance and to afford him/her every assistance and protection of which he/she may stand in need.

The inside cover also contains the approval of the official of Department of Immigration and Passports, by Order of the President.

The first page provides the following information about the passport holder:

Passport No.
Name
Father's Name
Mother's Name (available in the newer editions only)
Number of accompanying children

The second page provides the following:

Profession
Place and date of birth
Height
Hair color
Visible distinguishing marks

The third page has:

Photo of bearer
Signature of bearer
Expiration date (which is usually 5 years from the date of issuance, subject to one renewal of another five years)

The fourth page has permanent and present address

The fifth page shows the name, date of birth, sex and photo of any accompanying children.

The sixth page declares that the passport is valid for all the countries in the world except Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

.

Any additional information or amendments to the passport, such as renewal or change of address, are stamped separately on visa pages.

Machine readable passports

Machine readable Bangladeshi passports contain data field names (e.g. name) in English

English language

and Bangla; French

French language

is dropped from the passports. Field values (e.g. Mr. Abdur Rahman) are written in English

English language

only, as previously. No information regarding faith is required.

The inside cover of a machine readable Bangladeshi passport has an embossed image of the National Monument

Jatiyo Smriti Soudho

Jatiyo Sriti Soudho or National Martyrs' Memorial is a monument in Bangladesh. It is the symbol of the valour and the sacrifice of those killed in the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, which brought the independence of Bangladesh from Pakistani rule. The monument is located in Savar, about...

, with the National Anthem of Bangladesh

Amar Shonar Bangla

Amar Shonar Bangla is a 1905 song written and composed by the Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore , the first ten lines of which were adopted in 1972 as the Bangladeshi national anthem...

written in English

English language

and Bangla.

The first page contains The President

President of Bangladesh

's declaration in English

English language

and Bangla, as stated earlier. It also states in capitalized red letters that the passport is valid for all the countries in the world except Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

.

The second page is the main data page. It contains all information pre-printed on a thin plastic paper. The information printed are:

Photo of bearer
Passport type
Country code
ISO 3166-1 alpha-3
ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 codes are three-letter country codes defined in ISO 3166-1, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization , to represent countries, dependent territories, and special areas of geographical interest...
Passport No.
Surname
Given Name
Nationality
Personal No. (National Identification Number or the Birth Certificate Number)
Date of Birth
Previous Passport No.
Sex
Place of Birth
Date of Issue
Issuing Authority
Date of Expiry
Holder's Signature

In addition, more information regarding the passport holder is encoded using optical character recognition

Optical character recognition

Optical character recognition, usually abbreviated to OCR, is the mechanical or electronic translation of scanned images of handwritten, typewritten or printed text into machine-encoded text. It is widely used to convert books and documents into electronic files, to computerize a record-keeping...

, and can only be read by a particular machine.

The third page contains instructions for the passport holder in Bangla only, with a statement in English

English language

reading:

If lost abroad the founder of this passport is requested to deposit it to the nearest Bangladesh Mission/Consulate.

It also contains the passport number printed on the page.

The fourth page contains further information of the bearer:

Name
Father's Name
Mother's Name
Spouse's Name
Permanent Address
Emergency Contact
- Name
- Relationship
- Address
- Telephone No.

All information is printed using a dot matrix printer

Dot matrix printer

A dot matrix printer or impact matrix printer is a type of computer printer with a print head that runs back and forth, or in an up and down motion, on the page and prints by impact, striking an ink-soaked cloth ribbon against the paper, much like the print mechanism on a typewriter...

and is in English

English language

only. It is then signed by the appropriate officer of the issuing authority.

The inside back of the passport contains an embossed image of the National Parliament of Bangladesh

Jatiyo Sangshad

Jatiya Sangsad or National Assembly is the national parliament of Bangladesh. The current parliament of Bangladesh contains 345 seats including 45 women reserved seats distributed on elected party position in the parliament, the occupants of which are called Members of Parliament or MPs...

in English

English language

and Bangla, with a quotation of Louis I Kahn, the architect of the complex, written in English

English language

Countries valid

The passport states that it is valid for all the nations in the world except Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

. Previously, the passport was invalid for entry to Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

, Rhodesia

Rhodesia

Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...

and South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

External links

Department of Immigration & Passports of Bangladesh - Official site
Passport Application Form
Bangladesh Government Digitized Forms

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