Nepal’s First ePassport from IDEMIA

As a long-term partner of Nepal, IDEMIA has already provided national ID cards, an Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) and Machine-Readable Passports (MRPs) and is now implementing an ePassport solution for the country.

According to the company, Nepal has a vision to continually develop and modernise its digital infrastructure; the country is undergoing mass transformation and is evolving fast. As a long-term partner of Nepal, IDEMIA has already been supporting the Nepalese people on this journey by, as above, providing national ID cards, an AFIS and MRPs. The next step for Nepal is to implement a global ePassport solution for its citizens around the world.

With the ICAO’s recommended deadline for MRPs coming up in 2030, the Nepalese Department of Passports (DOP) decided that it was the right time to introduce an internationally compliant ePassport and infrastructure.

Nepal’s main financial resources are derived from tourism as well as the incomes of Nepalese migrant workers. The implementation of this new infrastructure will enable the country to maintain interoperability and boost trust in the Nepalese passport in order to continue to benefit from these key financial sources.

Establishing a new agreement 

In 2019, the DOP published a tender to implement the new passport. After a competitive international bidding process, the DOP chose to partner with IDEMIA, continuing a longstanding relationship.

Over a period of several years IDEMIA had demonstrated its ability to provide quality support to Nepal, and the DOP also recognized IDEMIA’s extensive worldwide experience in making fraud- resistant ID documents. As part of the agreement, IDEMIA will deliver 2 million ePassports and modernise the country’s entire passport infrastructure.

End-to-end ePassport solution

Nepal has become the 80th member of the ICAO PKD, a global repository for exchanging and verifying the data contained in the chip to authenticate ePassports.

The modernised passport provided by IDEMIA has a polycarbonate data page with a chip containing the holder’s photograph and fingerprint biometrics. Not only does this new passport ensure hassle-free travel for Nepalese migrant workers, but it also boosts the passport ranking and overall trust for all citizens. The PKD also ensures that Nepal adheres to the technical standards required to achieve and maintain interoperability.

To meet the DOP’s requirements for the new passport infrastructure, the agreement also includes the provision of the ID management system IDway. This will enable Nepal to benefit from the IDEMIA Document Personalization System (IDPS), a solution that supports the entire personalisation process of an ID document, covering the provision of a back-end, delivery of blank documents and enrolment of citizens.

Benefits of a long-term partnership

IDEMIA has been working alongside the Nepalese government for over 12 years and says it is proud to contribute to Nepal’s efforts to develop state-of-art IT services.

‘We are so proud to be working alongside the Nepalese government. This project strengthens our long-term relationship with Nepal. Moreover, it demonstrates our leadership in supplying secure and reliable identity management solutions on a global scale,’ commented Matt Cole, Group Executive Vice President, Public Security and Identity at IDEMIA.

‘We are pleased to be partnering with IDEMIA again. Our decision reaffirms our confidence in IDEMIA’s leadership for supplying secure and reliable identity management solutions. By issuing one of the best passports in terms of security, design and other features, the Nepalese passport ranking will significantly increase,’ added Sharad Raj Aran, Director at the DOP.