With Nepal’s passport stocks dwindling rapidly, the Department of Passports (DoP) under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs could face an acute shortage after December. Current stocks will only meet demand up to December, while as per the new agreement, two German firms are scheduled to deliver passports only after mid-March, 2026.

Given the large number of people applying for passports, especially youths going abroad for jobs and higher education, as well as those renewing existing ones, Nepal cannot afford to stop passport distribution even for a day.

To address the looming crisis, Prime Minister Sushila Karki has herself stepped in, and started talks with the German ambassador. She has also instructed officials at the Ministry of Foreign Ministry to expedite talks with German firms entrusted with supplying passports to Nepal for the next five years starting from March 2026.

Two German security printing companies—Veridos GmbH and Muehlbauer ID Service Gmb—won the new e-passport contract, ending the decade-and-a-half dominance of the French firm IDEMIA Identity and Security France SAS. The final agreement with the German firms was signed only in mid-August, after IDEMIA filed complaints and cases in the Supreme Court, Public Procurement Monitoring Office and DoP challenging the new contract.

In order to meet passport demand for at least three months after December, Prime Minister Karki on Thursday discussed the matter with German ambassador Udo Volz, and urged him to support the passport supply until March, according to Ajaya Bhadra Khanal, the chief advisor to the prime minister.

During the meeting, Prime Minister Karki asked the German ambassador to take necessary initiatives for passport printing.

She also expressed confidence that the German side would cooperate in delivering efficient services to Nepali citizens. In response, Ambassador Volz assured that he would request the companies and make every effort to expedite things, according to a statement issued by Karki’s private secretariat.

After attempts to procure additional 300,000 e-passport (biometric) from IDEMIA failed, officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and DoP started negotiating with the German firms to deliver passports earlier than mid-March or to print Machine Readable Passports (MRP) to cover the temporary shortage from December to middle of March, multiple officials at the ministry and the DoP told the Post.

As the German firms will deliver the new batch of biometric passports only by mid-March, the DoP’s only alternative is to reach a new agreement with IDEMIA to supply around 300,000 passports through a variation order or direct purchase.

In most cases, officials do not prefer to procure goods or services through direct purchase or variation orders, as these come with high risk of corruption and financial irregularities.

According to one DoP official, it has only 180,000 passport copies in its stock and that will only meet the demand until December. These were supplied by IDEMA as its last batch. Since the new contract was signed with the German firms, the DOP’s working relationship with IDEMIA has now ended.

The daily demand for passports can reach up to 6,000. Besides the DoP, people can submit their passport applications at all district administration offices, area administration offices, and Nepali Embassy and Consul General Offices abroad.

After stocks started depleting fast, the DoP started limiting daily passport applications. “We have significantly cut down on the number of passport applications we accept,” said Keshav Raj Panthi, information officer at DoP. “We now accept just around 500-800 applications daily.”

Following Dashain and Tihar, Nepal’s biggest festivals, the DoP has been swamped with passport applications, especially after many district administration offices, among other public offices, were burnt down during the anti-corruption protests in early September.

As many offices cannot provide passport personalisation services (embedding personal data and biometrics in passports), DoP in Kathmandu is facing long queues, said officials.

As the German firms will not deliver passports until mid-March, the department is looking for stopgap solutions.

“Initially, we approached IDEMIA to provide 300,000 passports to meet the present requirement, but the company quoted a very high price,” a DoP official said. The official told the Post that IDEMIA charged $15.51 per passport under a variation order—one-and-a-half times more than the existing rate of $10.13 per copy.

“The new price is too high and our laws do not allow us to procure directly,” said another official at the foreign ministry. “If we procure at such a high price, it would invite a corruption case.”

IDEMIA had provided passports for 15 years at $10.31 per copy, so officials did not agree to pay the new price of $15.51 per copy.

“Since IDEMIA supplied passports for 15 years, it should have shown some goodwill towards Nepal,” the foreign ministry official said. “But it has instead quoted a high price of $15.51 for a copy. So we are exploring other options.”

Khanal, the prime minister’s advisor, blamed the former government for the passport crunch, and said they are working to resolve the problem.

“We have requested the German ambassador to see if the German companies can provide biometric passports by the end of December. If not, MRPs could be supplied to meet the temporary requirement. If the firms agree, passport deliveries could start from the last week of December,” said Khanal.

Nepal began issuing e-passports from November 17, 2021. Before that, since 2010, MRPs had replaced handwritten ones. The International Civil Aviation Organisation still recognises MRPs. When Nepal first launched MRPs, the French firm Oberthur Technologies won the bid. Later Oberthur Technology was taken over by IDEMIA.

In the third week of October, the DoP asked both German firms to explore ways to manage passport supplies after December. As the companies are only contractually obligated to deliver passports from mid-March, alternatives under discussion include early delivery of biometric passports, or supplying MRPs during the gap.

Also on Friday, DoP Director General Tirtha Raj Aryal held discussion with representatives of both German companies. Officials said an understanding is expected by Monday. As it takes at least two months to deliver biometric passports, printing and supplying MRPs seem the most viable option, according to department officials.

The DoP and the firms are negotiating to bring in at least 300,000 MRPs to tide over the shortage, Khanal said.