According to Sharad Raj Aran, deputy director of the department, passports for people living in the areas will be prepared within three days. He also clarified that the new provision only applies for applicants who submit forms to the concerned District Administration Office (DAO) paying the normal fee of Rs 5,000 and does not include applications received directly at the department and Nepali missions abroad.

Usually, officials at the DAOs receive applications for passports and bring them to the department. The delivery takes seven days for districts near Kathmandu, 15 days for those taking the long route and one month for those in the remote areas. Aran said officials bringing the applications to the Capital do not even receive travel allowances in some cases and thus the new system is introduced to reduce their stay in Kathmandu.

Statistics at the department show that passport applications from Karnali and the Far-West region are comparatively lower than those received from other parts of the country. According to the department, only nine people have applied for passports from Dolpa in past four-and-a-half years. Similarly, only 67 people from Kalikot, 98 from Jajarkot, 50 from Mugu and 89 from Humla have applied for passports in the same period. The numbers, however, do not include applications received directly at the department under the fast-track way.

Out of the total 3.4 million passports issued in past four-and-a-half years, 99,704 were distributed in Kathmandu, 77,992 in Jhapa, 69,302 in Morang, 57,973 in Ruphandehi, 51,011 in Sunsari, 51,447 in Chitwan, 42,832 in Kaski and  46,800 in Nawalparasi.