‘Official’ blue passports for peacekeepers going on UN missions

The government has decided to provide “official” blue color passports to be used for government purposes to peacekeepers of the Nepali Army who are deployed in the conflict-affected areas on the call of the United Nations.

Currently, a blue passport will be provided to the Nepali peacekeeping force deployed in Syria.

Previously, the passport department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs doesn’t use to provide blue (official) passports to anyone of lower rank except the officer level. Common Nepalese citizens who used to go abroad for personal purposes had the right to make a green passport (e-Passport gray from last year) but the same person used to have the right to carry a blue or red passport according to his status while going for government work.

Since peacekeeping forces also have to go for government work, a policy decision was taken after taking comments from the Ministry of Defense and Foreign Affairs to provide them with blue passports. This decision has been implemented immediately.

This decision was made after problems arose for the forces due to Syrian visas and stamps, as sometimes they must travel to Israel for various types of training.

This was the reason why soldiers of gross rank were deprived of receiving high-level training. In order to solve this problem, it has been arranged that the Nepalese deployed in peacekeeping missions can carry personal and blue passports.

With this decision, the way to carry two passports, blue and personal, has been opened for all rank-and-file soldiers deployed in Syria.

In some countries such as China and Thailand, visas are not required for blue passport holders, but the places where visas are required do not charge fees.