A total of 17,367 expatriate Bangladeshis have officially become registered voters from nine countries so far, according to the Director General of the National Identity Registration Division, ASM Humayun Kabir.

At a press briefing on Tuesday (July 15) at the Election Commission headquarters in Dhaka, he said that 48,080 expatriates have applied to become voters. Of them, 29,646 have completed biometric registration, 17,367 individuals have been approved for voter registration, and 11,287 have already received their smart national ID cards.

Voter registration services for expatriates are currently operational at 16 Bangladeshi missions across nine countries: the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arab, the United Kingdom, Italy, Kuwait, Qatar, Malaysia, Australia, and Canada.

Humayun Kabir added that preparations are underway to launch voter registration services in five more countries— the United States, Oman, South Africa, Jordan, and the Maldives—where the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has approved the expansion.

“In addition to Los Angeles, Bangladesh’s offices in New York and Washington will also offer these services,” he said. He explained that equipment setup, personnel recruitment, training, and technical integration are ongoing to support this expansion.

The Election Commission aims to eventually offer NID services to expatriates in 40 countries.

The demand to include overseas Bangladeshis in the national voter list and provide them with NID cards was first raised during the 2007–2008 introduction of photo-based voter registration. After navigating years of administrative hurdles, the former commission launched online registration for expatriates in Malaysia in November 2019. However, the program was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although the process resumed briefly in July 2023 under the previous commission, it was disrupted again following the political transition on August 5. The current commission, led by AMM Nasir Uddin, has since restarted the initiative.