Anti-retroviral therapy
31. Exit and return
31.01 The US State Department, 2012 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices:
Bangladesh, 19 April 2013, accessed 23 May 2013, stated that:
‗The law provides for freedom of movement within the country, foreign travel,
emigration, and repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights in practice, except in two sensitive areas, the CHT and Cox‘s Bazar. … Passport holders do not require exit permits or visas to leave the country. There were no special controls on women or minorities. Some senior opposition officials reported extensive delays in getting their passports renewed. The international travel ban continued on war crimes suspects from the 1971 liberation war. The country‘s passports are invalid for travel to Israel.‘ 540
536 Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Division, Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary ‗The Bangladesh Citizenship (Temporary Provisions) Order, 1972‘, Notification published by the Government of the People‘s Republic of Bangladesh, Ministry of Law and Parliamentary Affairs (Law Division)
http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/pdf_part.php?act_name=&vol=&id=423 Accessed 20 July 2013
537 Bdnews24.com, Of honours from foreign states, 2 February 2013, http://opinion.bdnews24.com/2013/02/02/of- honours-from-foreign-states/ Accessed 26 July 2013
538 Bangladesh Citizenship (Temporary Provisions) Rules, 1978, Notification published in the Bangladesh Gazette Extraordinary dated (27/7/1978) http://www.mha.gov.bd/pdf/citizenship_rules'78.pdf Accessed 21 September 2011
539 The Daily Star (of Bangladesh) Cabinet okays three laws, 12 February 2009 http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=75535 Accessed 17 June 2013
540 US State Department, 2012 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Bangladesh, 19 April 2013. (Section 2d) http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/humanrightsreport/index.htm?year=2012&dlid=204395 Accessed 23 July 2013
The main text of this COI Report contains the most up to date publicly available information as at 31 July 2013. 179
31.02 The National Web Portal of Bangladesh, www.bangladesh.gov.bd, stated that:
‗[The] Government of Bangladesh issues passport to its citizen for traveling abroad. The Department of Immigration and Passports issues passport on demand. Ministry of Home Affairs administers the passport issuing. In general, the duration of validity of passport is 10 years. However the validity of the passport for the minor citizen (less than 5 years) is 5 years. Passport issue and related activities are governed by the
Bangladesh Passport Order, 1973, and the Bangladesh Passport Rules, 1974.
‗There are three types of passports in Bangladesh issued by the authority. These are – a) International Passport for traveling to any foreign country, b) Special Passport for travel to India only, and c) Diplomatic Passport. One person can apply for the passport with a properly filled up passport application form, and 2 copies of passport sized and one stamp sized photo with usual fee . People have to fill up application form properly and it requires to be attested by an authorized person. The issuing period depends on the applicant's urgency. The applicant may apply for very urgent (requires 72 hours), urgent (requires 11 to 21 days), general (requires 21 to 30 days) or special passport depending on his/her need.
‗The passport form is available in free of cost in all regional passport offices and some of the deputy commissioners' offices in Bangladesh and foreign missions abroad. It can also be downloaded form the website of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the
Department of Immigration and Passports. The passport offices have one-stop desks to handle with passport modifications or corrections. One can update any information in the passport within a day also. In the mean time GOB has introduced Machine
Readable Passport (MRP) as per guideline of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).‘ 541
See Section 27: Freedom of movement
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Children
31.03 The Canadian IRB was advised by the Bangladesh High Commission in November 2003 that a woman did not need her husband‘s consent in order to obtain a passport. A child under the age of 12 would usually be included on their mother‘s passport but, should there be cause for concern regarding the application, the authorities might request the other parent‘s consent. There was no official requirement for parental
consent for children over the age of 12 who apply for a passport, although children were
‗typically accompanied by a parent when filing their application‘. Passport applicants were required to provide their birth certificates and, since 2002, the names of both parents had appeared in passports. 542
See Section 27: Freedom of movement
541 The National Web Portal of Bangladesh, Passports, undated
http://www.bangladesh.gov.bd/index.php?Itemid=27&id=141&option=com_content&task=category#imp_links Accessed 26 July 2013
542 Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Bangladesh: Whether a man is required to give his consent when a passport is requested by his wife or child, 11 November 2003, BGD42162.E, available at:
http://www.refworld.org/docid/403dd1e314.html Accessed 31 July 2013
31.04 A Canadian IRB paper of 26 August 2010 quoted an official at the Canadian High Commission in Bangladesh who stated that:
‗―[t]he only document required for a Bangladeshi parent who wishes to travel abroad with their minor child is a passport issued by the Department of Immigration &
Passports (DIP), Dhaka‖
‗The Official provided the following information about the procedures followed by a parent wishing to travel abroad with a minor child since the introduction of machine- readable passports in May 2010:
‗In the case of the new machine-readable passport (MRP) issued from May 2010, the minor child needs to have his/her own passport separate from the parent's passport. A minor child under 15 is eligible to apply for a passport that can be used to travel
overseas, but it will be only issued if the application form is endorsed by the guardian of the child (usually one of the parents). A signature from the guardian implies permission for the minor child to travel. Two copies of the application form with attested
photographs of the child, father and mother (the passport will only have the photograph of the applicant, but the father and mother's photographs were included for office
records) and relevant fees (Taka 5,000 or C$73 for very urgent, Taka, 3000 or C$45 for urgent and Taka 2,000 or C$29.5 for normal delivery) have to be submitted to the DIP Dhaka or other regional offices.
‗Each application subsequently undergoes a police verification process- local police verify all details in the form, including birth certificates or other documents to ascertain the legal guardianship of the child. In the case of adoptions or children of
separated/divorced parents, the local police officer will verify relevant legal/custody documents before confirming the legal guardian of the child mentioned in the passport.
The passport is issued by the DIP only after the police verification process is completed.
The passport does not have the father's or mother's name printed on it, but they are recorded on the immigration database. The entire process takes 72 hours to 30 days.‘
543
31.05 The report continued:
‗The Official also provided the following details for the procedures that were followed before the introduction of MRPs in May 2010:
‗In the case of manual passports issued before May 2010, there was an option to
include children under the age of 12. The father or mother were allowed to include up to two minor children in their passport, if two copies of the application form were submitted with birth certificates and photographs of the minor children. The form required to be countersigned by the legal guardian or other parent, implying permission for both parents and/or the legal guardian to travel. Alternatively, a minor child under 15 was eligible to apply for an independent passport if two copies of the application form with attested photographs of the child, father and mother [were submitted] (the passport would have only the photograph of the applicants, but the father's and mother's photographs were kept in official records). The application form was required to be
543 Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Bangladesh: Documentation required and procedures to be followed by a parent wishing to travel abroad with a minor child in the absence, or without the consent, of the second parent, 26 August 2010, BGD103528.E, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/4dd113782.html Accessed 19 July 2013
The main text of this COI Report contains the most up to date publicly available information as at 31 July 2013. 181
endorsed by the guardian of the child, indicating permission for the minor child to travel.
The passport for the minor child included the father's and mother's name on Page 1.
‗Both options (i.e. independent passport or to be included in the parent's passport) were open for minor children under 12, but minor children between the age of 13 and 15 were required to apply for their independent passports. The application subsequently went through a similar police verification process like the MRP.
‗The Official added the following information about situations where only one parent is travelling with a child or if the non-travelling parent has not given his or her consent:
‗If the minor child holds a valid independent passport (either MRP or manual), DIP assumes that there is consent from the legal guardian to travel. Similarly, if the father or mother has their minor children included in their passport (in the case of the manual passports), it is assumed there is consent from the legal guardian to travel. Hence, there are no additional requirements or documents for the minor child to travel with either the father or mother when the other parent is not traveling. As mentioned above, the passport is issued only after police verification that there is consent from the legal guardian (usually the father and/or the mother).‘ 544
See Section 24: Children - documentation
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