Government provides first e-passport to Satya Mohan Joshi

KATHMANDU: The government has provided first e-passport to 102-year-old historian Satya Mohan Joshi on Wednesday.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Khadka handed over the biometric passport to Joshi amidst a function organised in the Capital this afternoon.

So far, Nepal has been issuing only machine-readable passports.

Sharad Raj Aran, spokesperson at the Department of Passports said that the department will distribute limited e-passports for a few days. General public has to wait for a few weeks to get the e-passports, he said.

The Department of Passports on December 20, 2020 had made an agreement with French firm IDEMIA and Security for the printing of e-passports at a cost of Rs 2.48 billion.

The third generation passport has officially come into use with the issuance of e-passports in Nepal.