The government has expedited negotiations with German and French companies simultaneously to ensure that the country does not face a passport crisis, particularly after December.

With passport stocks dwindling and scarcity looming in the new year, Prime Minister Sushila Karki personally led rounds of talks with ministers, government officials, the German ambassador, and local representatives of IDEMIA, which supplied passports to Nepal from 2010 until last August.

Tirtha Raj Aryal, director general at the Department of Passports (DoP), told the Post that they have received proposals and are in talks with both German and French companies to secure a deal, but did not divulge details.

Current stocks will meet demand up to December, while, as per the new agreement, two German firms are scheduled to deliver passports only after mid-March, 2026. To bridge this stopgap shortage, Prime Minister Karki started consultations with officials and vendors who are eager to supply passports.

The German firm Veridos sent an email three days ago to the department with its commercial proposal. Similarly, the department has requested IDEMIA to continue to supply additional passports for the interim period.

During a meeting with Prime Minister Karki and her aides on Tuesday, IDEMIA representatives had assured of their readiness to supply passports at the same price currently being charged to the passport department.

As local representatives could not finalise a deal, the group CEO of IDEMIA Antione Grenier and his global sales director are scheduled to visit Kathmandu on Friday, according to an aide to the prime minister.

After IDEMIA’s local representatives expressed their readiness to provide passports to meet the stopgap requirement at the same rate that it has been providing to the department for four years, the prime minister pressed for a quick decision to resolve the matter immediately.

Local representatives of IDEMIA then contacted their higher authorities in Paris on the same day and invited them in final negotiations at the highest political level in Nepal.

“If talks go well, then a new agreement to purchase between 200,000 and 500,000 passports will be reached,” according to a Nepali official privy to the matter.

Under the original agreement, IDEMIA supplied passports at $10.30 per copy that included system installation, data storage, and personalisation facilities. Now, under a variation order, the government is looking for the same price arrangement with IDEMIA.

Earlier, DoP officials claimed that IDEMIA quoted an excessive price during previous negotiations, and they had stopped further talks. The government had even sent its ambassador to France, Sudhir Bhattarai, to visit the headquarters of the IDEMIA and make a request to supply additional passports, but that effort failed.

At present, the DoP has around 200,000 passports—including ordinary, diplomatic, officials and seamen categories—which will not last beyond December at the current rate of demand.

After passport stocks dwindled rapidly, the DoP issued a notice this week and informed service seekers that only 1,000 passport applications will be accepted. During normal days, the DoP used to get up to 6,000 applications from Nepalis at home and overseas.

Veridos has also offered to supply Machine-Readable Passports (MRPs) to meet the stopgap. This matter was discussed with German ambassador Udo Volz last week.

“Veridos has already submitted its commercial proposal to the passport department. But the company also said it is open to negotiations. The proposal stated that Veridos can use the system and encrypted data held by IDEMIA. Installing a new system would be costly,” an official familiar with the proposal told the Post.

As per a new proposal, Veridos will deliver passport copies while Muehlbauer ID Service has to provide systems like personalisation service and equipment. Veridos has offered to provide at the cost of US $ 8.5 per copy. Likewise, Veridos has stated that costs could drop if IDEMIA provides the system and data.

“It is up to the DoP to negotiate with Veridos, but it is logical to go with IDEMIA as they hold the data, chips, and personalisation system. Supplying booklets is not an issue, the real challenge is handing over the system and data,” said the official.

Aryal agrees that it is better if IDEMIA supplies the additional passports given the complex technical transfers needed if the job goes to the German firm.

Nepal transitioned from MRPs to biometric passports in 2022.

After efforts to procure 300,000 biometric passports from IDEMIA stalled, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the DoP started negotiations with German firms to either deliver passports earlier than mid-March or print MRPs to cover the shortage from December to mid-March.

Currently, all personalisation data is held by the DoP and the IDEMIA. If deals with German and French firms fail, passport supply may have to be further reduced until March or until Veridos begins deliveries.

But Prime Minister Karki and government officials are keen to avoid complications.

“Today, I received an update from the officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Passports regarding the status of passport distribution,” Karki wrote on X on Tuesday. “After meeting with ministers and officials, the government is fully committed to ensuring that citizens do not face any difficulties in obtaining their passports.”

“The government is continuously working to ensure smooth and timely passport distribution according to demand, and effective measures will be taken soon to resolve the issue,” she added.

The prime minister’s chief adviser, Ajaya Bhadra Khanal, said the government will come to an agreement on passports within a few days.

As a large number of people apply for passports, especially youths going abroad for jobs and higher education, in addition to those renewing existing ones, Nepal cannot afford to stop passport distribution even for a day.

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