KATHMANDU, March 26: The Department of Passport (DoP) under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) has stated that preparations to print passports through a new company have reached the final stage.
According to the DoP, the new passports are expected to be in use by the third week of May, or at the latest, within mid-June. During that period, passport distribution may be affected for some time.
For passport procurement, the DoP has signed an agreement with a new supplier and completed the necessary preparations, including the passport system and passport booklets. The current system will switch to the new one within one to two months, and services may be affected until the system stabilizes.
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According to officials, some issues may arise when passports from the new company arrive.
Passport services provided through District Administration Offices and Nepali missions abroad may be suspended for one to three weeks, and services directly from the DoP may be paused for up to a week, the DoP said.
After implementation, system stabilization may take one to three months, so during this interim period, passport issuance from district offices or Nepali missions abroad may take longer than usual, the DoP noted.
The responsibility to print new passports has been given to two German companies, Veridos and Mulbewer. Both companies have completed all necessary preparations.
Because the two German companies delayed printing, IDEMIA, which had been printing Nepali passports for the past 15 years, was temporarily reassigned. Its contract with the Nepal Government had ended.
As the two German companies could only start issuing passports from the third week of February, IDEMIA was allowed to print for a short period. IDEMIA has now stopped printing Nepali passports, and the German companies have started their work, the passport DoP stated.
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