Bangladesh’s Election Commission (EC) is bringing encouraging news for expatriate Bangladeshis living in the United States, as it prepares to launch National Identity (NID) registration services in the US capital and three other states.
The Commission is considering commencing this initiative as early as next month.
According to EC officials, a majority of Bangladeshis in the US are permanent residents. Many may have migrated before the NID programme was launched in Bangladesh and thus were unable to obtain this crucial document.
Moreover, in some cases, their families have not travelled to Bangladesh either. As a result, many have been deprived of various services due to the absence of an NID. To address this, the EC has decided to extend NID services to the United States. Given the vast geographic spread and the dispersed nature of the expatriate community, the Commission will operate in four states.
The programme is set to launch in Washington DC, New York, Miami in Florida, and Los Angeles in California. Technical and administrative teams will be dispatched to the US soon. Four technical teams will be deployed to four Bangladeshi missions, where they will train embassy staff. Two administrative teams will also travel to monitor operations.
One team, led by EC Secretary Akhtar Ahmed, will travel to New York and Washington DC, while another, led by NID Director General ASM Humayun Kabir, will go to Miami and Los Angeles. The teams will remain in the US from September 21 to 27, departing on September 19 and returning on September 29.
Each of the four technical teams will consist of four members who will train embassy personnel from September 14 to 25. These teams will depart Bangladesh on September 12 and return on September 27. In total, 20 officials and staff members will be deployed in the US. All expenses will be covered by the Smart Card or IDEA-2 project.
The Commission is currently operating voter registration programmes through embassies in 17 stations across 10 countries: United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, Italy, Kuwait, Qatar, Malaysia, Australia, Canada, and Japan. In addition to the United States, the EC plans to begin voter registration in at least four more countries.
EC officials noted that the current interim government has pledged to ensure voting rights for expatriates, and the Commission is working accordingly to advance the voter registration programme abroad. The NID is being issued to expatriates through this process, with embassies facilitating the registration after their staff receive training.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal has stated that the Commission aims to initiate the process of ensuring voting rights for expatriates. Even if on a limited scale, he wishes to enable voting opportunities for Bangladeshis living abroad.
The CEC affirmed the Commission’s commitment, alongside the interim government, to ensure voting access for expatriates in the next national election. He emphasized that regardless of the method chosen, the process must begin with piloting, followed by limited implementation, and eventually broader rollout.
Four mandatory documents required from expatriates
To register as a voter from abroad, applicants must submit a completed online application form (Form-2(k)), a valid or expired Bangladeshi passport or attestation by three NID-holding citizens, an online birth registration certificate, and a passport-sized colour photograph to the designated registration desk at the respective embassy.
For residents of 56 special upazilas/thanas under the Chattogram region, additional documents are required: a completed special information form, educational certificates, parents’ NIDs or death certificates if applicable, driving license or TIN (if relevant), dual citizenship certificate (for certain countries), marriage certificate and spouse’s NID (if applicable), citizenship certificate issued by a councillor, chairman, mayor, or CEO, and utility bills for the voter’s address. Tenants must also submit rental agreements and a landlord’s no-objection certificate.
Optional documents not submitted at the registration centre may instead be submitted through a relative residing in Bangladesh to the concerned upazila officer. Once the online application is submitted and the information verified, the Commission conducts an investigation at the relevant upazila. If the details are found accurate, the application is approved, the applicant is registered as a voter, and the NID is sent to the relevant embassy.
Following a directive from the Prime Minister’s Office, the EC under KM Nurul Huda launched the expatriate voter registration and NID initiative in 2019. The online voter registration for UK-based Bangladeshis began on February 12, 2020. Prior to that, the service was introduced on November 18, 2019, for expatriates in the UAE.
On November 5 of the same year, applications were opened for Bangladeshi nationals in Malaysia as part of the process to include them in the voter list and provide smart NID cards. Subsequently, the service was also extended to Bangladeshis in Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and the Maldives.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic delayed further implementation via embassies. After assuming office, the EC led by Kazi Habibul Awal revived the initiative in 2022. They restarted the programme by bypassing previous applications and launching a fresh campaign, which the current Commission under Nasir is now advancing.
As of the first week of August, the Commission had received 49,574 applications from 10 countries. Of these, 29,763 individuals completed registration by providing biometric data. Investigations have been completed and applications approved for 21,971 individuals, who are now registered voters. Applications for 18,034 individuals have been uploaded to the server, while another 3,937 are pending upload. Meanwhile, 3,937 applications have been rejected due to incomplete or incorrect information.
The Election Commission, after collecting data from the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare, the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA), identified 40 countries with significant Bangladeshi expatriate populations. The Commission is prioritising these countries for the NID programme.
These countries include: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Lebanon, Jordan, Libya, Sudan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, United Kingdom, Italy, Hong Kong, Egypt, Brunei, Mauritius, Iraq, United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, Greece, Spain, Germany, South Africa, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Brazil, China, Indonesia, Maldives, New Zealand, Russia, Turkey, and Cyprus. A total of 14,046,534 expatriate Bangladeshis live in these countries. Among them, the highest number reside in Saudi Arabia—4,049,588—while the lowest number are in New Zealand, with 2,500. The Commission plans to gradually expand its NID and voter registration operations to these countries.
NID Director General ASM Humayun Kabir said, “We hope to begin operations in the United States as early as next month.” He added that there are also plans to initiate programmes in Oman, South Africa, Jordan, and the Maldives, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has already given its consent.
