Govt eases visa on-arrival in Bangladesh with introduction of online platform

The government has made on-arrival visa processing in Bangladesh easier through the introduction of an online platform to avail the services.

Home Adviser Lt Gen (Retd) Jahangir Alam Chowdhury inaugurated the service at his office at the Secretariat in the presence of representatives from the government today (13 February).

During the inauguration, the adviser said, "From now on, citizens of those countries who get on-arrival visas upon reaching Bangladesh will be able to provide their information online before coming here. They will receive a code from the system after giving information, and they will get their visas after showing that code at the designated place at airports upon their arrival."

"Earlier, it would take 45 minutes to one hour for the processing of an on-arrival visa. Now it will take only 10 minutes, which means now that the time to get on-arrival visas will be equal to the time needed to pay fees at the banks," the adviser added.

While mentioning that the fees for on-arrival visas are different for each country, the adviser added that the fees can be paid through credit card or cash at the branches of Sonali Bank at the Bangladeshi airports and land ports.

Replying to a question, the adviser further said, "The government is thinking about abandoning police verification during passport processing so that the citizens can get passports easily.

"Even if the police verification process stays, it will be made easier. But the government wants to abandon the practice," the adviser further said.

According to home ministry sources, the countries which get on-arrival visa facility for business, investment, government purposes or tourism are- the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Russian Federation, China, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Egypt, Turkey, Brunei and the European Union.

The immigration department at the international airports and land ports of the country provides on-arrival visas to the nationals of these countries after reviewing necessary documents.

Besides, nationals of any country who come to Bangladesh from another country where there is no Bangladesh embassy or high commission are given on-arrival visas by the immigration department.

People of Bangladeshi origin, their spouses and their children are also given on-arrival visas upon review of their citizenship documents and other necessary documents, said home ministry sources.