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Department of Immigration and Passports

department · verified (verified 2026-05-17)

Profile

Head
Major General Md. Nurul Anwar
Role
Director General
Annual budget
—
Staff
—
Established
1973
Legal basis
Bangladesh Passport Order, 1973 (President's Order No. 9 of 1973, promulgated 8 February 1973); Passport Act, 1920 (as adapted); Immigration Ordinance, 1982; and subsequent amendments including the Passports and Travel Documents Act governing e-passport issuance.

DIP under DG Major General Md. Nurul Anwar has completed the MRP-to-e-passport transition domestically (MRP issuance ended by end-2025) and extended e-passport services to 65 missions abroad covering 1.4 million expatriates. The department simultaneously ran an anti-corruption sweep from March 2026 with over ten officials suspended and ACC cases filed against two directors. Bangladesh's passport remains under severe international reputational pressure -- ranked 100th of 106 countries on the 2025 Henley Index -- driven by human trafficking syndicates exploiting tourist visa routes; thousands of Bangladeshis with valid visas were denied entry at foreign immigration counters in late 2025 and early 2026. The politically sensitive revocation of 97 passports including Sheikh Hasina's (January 2026) has drawn criticism from civil society about due-process safeguards.

Recent activity

Provenance & notes

Established year 1973 reflects the promulgation of the Bangladesh Passport Order (President's Order No. 9, 8 February 1973), the founding legal instrument for the department. DG Major General Md. Nurul Anwar's exact appointment date was not found in primary sources; he was confirmed serving in January 2025 (BSS SMS service announcement) and as recently as the April 2026 anti-corruption crackdown (Dhaka Tribune). No successor appointment found as of verification date 2026-05-17. head_since is therefore null. staff_count and annual_budget_bdt are null because DIP-specific figures are not publicly disaggregated in available budget or HR documents; the Security Services Division envelope of Tk 4,038 crore within the MoHA FY2025-26 allocation of Tk 31,039 crore is the closest available figure. Parent division confirmed as Security Services Division (ssd.gov.bd), which oversees non-law-enforcement departments under MoHA, including DIP; this is distinct from the Public Security Division that oversees Bangladesh Police and BGB. MRP discontinuation: government set 31 December 2025 as the terminal date; Daily Sun and New Age reported e-passport and MRP operations were suspended in mid-2025 before the formal terminal date, consistent with a phased wind-down; embassy pages in Abu Dhabi and Washington confirm MRP reissue was in 'very limited scale' until that date. E-passport coverage: 65 missions in 144 countries, 1.4 million expatriates registered, confirmed by Dhaka Tribune (sourced from DIP). Three e-gates at HSIA confirmed by BSS. Henley Passport Index ranking of 100/106 (2025) confirmed by Dhaka Tribune and multiple corroborating outlets. All notable events cross-checked against minimum two primary sources except the MRP termination (single DIP-direction but corroborated by four embassy and news sources), and the anti-corruption crackdown (single Dhaka Tribune article with named officials and DG quote -- marked partial corroboration; ACC case filings not independently confirmed). Passport purge event_type set to 'scandal' reflecting external criticism flagged by South Asia Monitor; DIP itself treated it as a routine 'policy' action.

Sources