The Pakistani embassy in Bahrain will start issuing machine-readable passports (MRPs) in Bahrain from Monday, said Pakistan Ambassador to Bahrain.

"We will issue these passports on a trial basis for the next few days until we streamline the system and then open the process for the public from Monday," added Ikramullah Mehsud.

"With this, a long-standing demand of the community has been met. Until now, we had only hand-written passports issued in Bahrain, but these passports are now no longer accepted in some countries,” Mehsud said.

The envoy said Pakistanis in white-collar and executive jobs who travel frequently had to travel to Pakistan to get MRPs issued.

Those wishing to get MRPs should contact the embassy to fix an appointment to complete the procedures.

"For a few days, the staff need to familiarise themselves with the new system before we open the process," said embassy deputy head of mission Aurangzeb. "We plan to issue 60 passports a day from Monday onwards."

The diplomat said while all new passports would now be MRPs, all hand-written passports could be changed to MRPs at the regular new passport charges.

"People who wish to take appointments should come to the embassy with their national identity cards for overseas Pakistanis (NICOP)," he said.

"At present, all data recorded in Bahrain will be immediately transmitted to a central system at Islamabad from where the passports will be printed and sent to Bahrain. It should take between a week and 10 days for an applicant to get a new passport."

Aurangzeb said the embassy would soon start printing the passports in Bahrain.

"In addition to that, we will also soon start to issue machine-readable visas for non-Pakistanis wishing to travel to Pakistan," he said. – TradeArabia News Service