BY FAZEENA SALEEM
DOHA: A comparative study of the consular fees charged by the embassies of some South Asian countries in Qatar shows that the Nepalese mission has the highest fee for passport issue and renewal. This, despite the fact that a vast majority of the country’s citizens based here are low income workers.
The Nepalese mission charges QR300 for a machine-readable passport with 10 years’ validity, while the fee to replace a lost passport is QR600. The Indian Embassy takes the shortest time — five days — to issue a new passport, while the Sri Lankan and Philippine Embassies take the longest time — 30 to
45 days.
The fee for renewing a passport at the Indian Embassy is QR274 and it comes after a recent revision of the charges after a decade.
The missions of some South Asian countries in Doha issue different types of passports —depending on various factors.
The Sri Lankan Embassy issues two types of passports —one which is valid only for travel to the Middle Eastern countries, while universal one allows one travel to all other nations.
The fee for a passport for Middle Eastern countries is lower at QR185, while it is QR550 for the universal one.
According to a senior official at the Sri Lankan Embassy, since most Sri Lankans travel to the Middle East to take up lowly-paid jobs, special passports are issued at a lower fee.
This passport also allows a Sri Lankan to travel to India for pilgrimage or to any other country in South Asia. Interestingly, the Sri Lankan Embassy charges only QR11 to renew a passport for one year issued before 2010.
The embassy has quite a high fee slab for issuing a passport in place of a lost one. If the lost passport is for all countries the fee is QR 1,280, provided a copy of the passport is available, and QR1, 645 if a copy is not available.
The fee is just half in the case of passports that are valid for travel only to the Middle East. The Sri Lankan mission takes 30 to 45 days to issues a machine-readable passport. As for other consular fees, the embassy charges between QR20 and QR170 to attest different documents.
The Bangladesh embassy in Doha also issues two kinds of passports. Professionals and students must pay QR404 to get a new passport while if one needs it urgently one must dole out QR604. The passport issuance or renewal fee for unskilled and semi-skilled Bangladeshi workers is quite low—QR122.
The Pakistani embassy has much lower passport issuance and renewal fee. For the urgent service the fee is QR245, while the ordinary service takes for a passport to be issued in 15 to 20 days and the fee is QR146. Document attestation fee is QR18.
The Philippine Embassy in Doha also issues two kinds of passports. Renewal of an ePassport costs QR240. And if it’s lost the embassy charges QR100 to verify if the passport was issued by the embassy. QR600 is the fee for issuing a passport in lieu of a lost one. In the case of a lost machine-readable passport QR100 is charged for verification and QR360 for its replacement. The embassy charges QR100 per document for notarisation or acknowledgment.
The Indian embassy, according to its recently revised fee structure, charges QR274 for renewal or issuing a normal 36-page passport which is valid for ten years. In the case of a lost passport, the embassy charges QR549 for a 36-page passport. The charges are higher for jumbo passport and for urgent (Tatkal) service.
The Peninsula
