The agents will be authorised to receive application and fees, deposit fees to the banks, attest and submit documents to the passport office, and distribute passport books.

An inter-ministerial meeting chaired by Home Secretary Md Abdul Karim took the decision.

Sources said that advertisements will be placed in different national dailies soon, seeking application for the position of passport-processing agent.

The ministry decided to open offices in 17 district headquarters--Moulvibazar, Bogra, Pabna, Tangail, Kushtia, Patuakhali, Narayanganj, Munshiganj, Dinajpur, Cox's Bazar, Chandpur, Gazipur, Manikganj, Narsingdi, Brahmanbaria and Dhaka.

Until then, passports would be issued through the deputy commissioner's office in those districts.

Currently, the country has 15 regional passport offices.

To avoid ambiguity and complication, the passport forms will be revised and simplified.

The home ministry sources said the meeting also discussed problems regarding issuance of police verification reports and passports to the Bangladesh citizens having no permanent address.