NID Services for Expatriates to Be Launched in 41 Countries

The Bangladesh government is progressively expanding its voter registration and National Identity card services to 41 countries, operating through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with the Election Commission. Foreign Minister Dr. Khalilur Rahman revealed this development in a written response at the Jatiya Sangsad on Thursday, addressing a starred question from Sylhet-3 Member of Parliament Mohammad Abdul Malik. Currently, this essential registration process is already active across 17 countries via 27 Bangladesh missions, ensuring expatriates can eventually receive their official NIDs issued centrally from Dhaka.

To complement these identity services, online passport operations are fully functional in missions where e-passports are active, allowing citizens to handle biometric enrollment and track application progress digitally. While local embassies collect these applications, actual passports are produced centrally by the Department of Immigration and Passports in Dhaka. To maintain efficiency, missions coordinate closely with domestic authorities, promptly notifying applicants via SMS or email the moment their travel documents are ready for collection.

Specialized administrative interventions have also been launched to tackle unique backlogs in high-density regions. Under short-, medium-, and long-term plans shared by Foreign Minister Dr. Khalilur Rahman, dedicated technical expert teams from Dhaka are being dispatched directly to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates through crash programs. These targeted interventions are specifically engineered to resolve persistent passport-related complications faced by the large diaspora residing in those two Gulf nations.

Broader consular modernization efforts include the introduction of online attestation and e-Apostille systems, alongside an integrated data verification framework planned for fiscal year 2026-27 to streamline passports, visas, and vital statistics. These technological upgrades are paired with an active online Grievance Redress System deployed across every diplomatic mission. Together, these modernizations are designed to drastically cut down processing times, expenses, and bureaucratic harassment for all service seekers abroad.