Kathmandu, July 14: Two German companies, Veridos and Muehlbauer, began printing Nepal’s electronic passports (e-passports) on Monday, ending the 16-year contract of French firm IDEMIA, formerly Oberthur, which had handled the country’s passport printing since 2010.
The German firms secured the contract in 2025 to print 6.4 million e-passports and officially started operations on Monday. The Department of Passports said it has also launched a new passport issuance system.
“The department has started providing passport services through the new system from today. Some applicants have already completed the process and received their passports,” the department said in a statement.
Applicants seeking new passports or renewals can continue to apply through district administration offices, area administration offices, the Department of Passports or Nepali diplomatic missions abroad.
The department acknowledged that minor technical issues could arise during the first three months of the new system but assured that passport services would remain smooth and uninterrupted.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the new system is aimed at making passport services more reliable, technology-friendly and efficient. Ministry spokesperson Lok Bahadur Paudel Chhetri said the government has signed an agreement with the Department of Postal Services to expedite the delivery of printed passports to district and area administration offices.
He also said preparations are underway to allow citizens to apply for passports from any district, regardless of their permanent address.
Nepal replaced handwritten passports with machine-readable passports (MRPs) in November 2010 and began issuing e-passports in November 2021.
Between November 2010 and July 2026, more than 12.6 million passports, including MRPs and e-passports, were issued. IDEMIA printed all of them, including 6.85 million MRPs and 5.8 million e-passports.
Passport contract under corruption probe
The Department of Passports awarded the five-year contract to Veridos and Muehlbauer in June 2025 for the procurement and printing of 6.4 million e-passports. Based on the exchange rate at the time, the contract was worth Rs 7.66 billion.
Muehlbauer received a Rs 1.55 billion contract for the passport application system, data management, processing and distribution, while Veridos secured a Rs 6.11 billion contract to supply blank e-passport booklets and personalise them.
Weeks ago, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed a corruption case against 18 individuals, including the two German companies, claiming irregularities in awarding the contract and seeking Rs 10.13 billion in damages. The case is currently under trial at the Special Court in Kathmandu.
The corruption case also exposed differences between Prime Minister Balendra Shah and Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal. The prime minister had argued that the German firms would not be ready to begin printing passports on schedule and favoured extending the French company’s contract for a few hundred thousand additional passports.
The foreign minister, however, maintained that the German firms had completed all preparations and could begin operations as planned. After discussions, the prime minister agreed, paving the way for the two companies to start printing passports on Monday.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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