Online Khabar

Kathmandu, November 23. The International Civil Aviation Authority is phasing out handwritten passports from November 25, 2015. This means ICAO member countries will have to switch to machine-readable passports from handwritten ones by then.

Director at the Passports Department, Sharad Raj Aran, told Online Khabar: From Wednesday onwards, no one will be able to embark on foreign travels by showing handwritten passports.

The mandatory ICAO provision means all handwritten passports will be illegal and obsolete from Tuesday.

The department has asked all concerned to get MRPs. It estimates around 50,000 handwritten passports are yet to be replaced with MRPs.

This means those, who have handwritten passports and have been living abroad, will face problems. They have no option but to get MRPs.

For convenience of these people, the government has decided to issue temporary passports through embassies and consulates based abroad. Only those people, who fill up MRP forms, will get temporary passports. They will have to return the temporary passports to the department once they get MRPs.

From Wednesday onwards, no one will be able to embark on foreign travels by showing handwritten passports, according to a mandatory ICAO provision