KATHMANDU: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs today said it had made special arrangements to issue handwritten passports to those willing to collect them before April 1, the deadline for issuance of ordinary passports.

International Civil Aviation Organisation has set April 1 deadline to phase out handwritten passports and replace them with machine-readable passports. Nepal is a member country of the ICAO, a UN agency, and is required to introduce MRP by the deadline. Since Nepal will, in all probability, miss the deadline, it has requested ICAO to extend the deadline and validate handwritten passports for another six months.

In a press statement, the MoFA appealed to all those wishing to collect the handwritten passports before April 1 to contact special desks in the ministry on the premises of Narayanhiti Museum.

“The collection of application forms and issuance of handwritten passports will take place on March 27 (Saturday) from 10 am to 5 pm and on March 28 to 31 from 8 am to 8 pm,” read the statement.

The government cannot issue handwritten passports after March 31 and the existing handwritten passports will be effective till November 24, 2015. The government is expected to start issuing the much-hyped MRP, beginning the first week of June, thanks to a deal it inked with its Indian counterpart.

Nasik-based Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India has been entrusted with the responsibility of printing and supplying the MRP to Nepal. As per the deal, Nepal will procure four million MRP within three years.