Documentation

Bangladesh lacks statutory laws for providing identification documents to refugees. Rohingyas who arrived in the 1990s were jointly registered by the Government of Bangladesh and UNHCR, and received documentation (Master Registration Card). The Rohingyas who arrived in Bangladesh in subsequent years were not registered by the Government until the latest influx of August 2017. Those previously unregistered and those who arrived in the influx of August 2017 were registered in a joint registration exercise under the provisions of a 2018 UNHCR-Government of Bangladesh Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The Government identifies this group as Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals (FDMN) while UNHCR identifies them (like those who arrived previously) as refugees. The refugee identity cards and family attestation certificates issued to this population bear the official logo of the Government of Bangladesh and UNHCR. The documentation issued under the Government and UNHCR is considered as valid identity documentation. However, as the legal status of Rohingya refugees is not recognized in Bangladesh, refugee documentation, while providing some protection and access to humanitarian aid, is not recognized for broader administrative purposes or by the private sector.

Bangladesh also hosts a small number of non-Rohingya asylum-seekers and refugees who predominately live in urban areas. Without national asylum legislation, UNHCR registers and conducts Refugee Status Determination (RSD) for these individuals, issuing individual asylum-certificates and, upon recognition, refugee identity cards. While these UNHCR documents are not officially recognized by the Government and do not confer legal status, they may provide a degree of protection, particularly against arbitrary arrest and refoulement.

Rohingya refugees do not possess any travel documents issued by their country of origin, Myanmar, and are not issued travel documents from the Government of Bangladesh for international travel. The Government recognizes travel documents issued by third countries for refugees’ departure from Bangladesh on resettlement or complementary pathways, but require an “exit permit”, which involves a rigorous security clearance process. Exit permits are an internal Government process and no document is issued by the Government to the departing Rohingya refugees. Non-Rohingya refugees, given they are not registered with the Government as refugees in Bangladesh, are required to obtain an “exit visa” as the Government considers that they have overstayed their visa and thus are subject to immigration regulations. Exit visas are granted, through a stamp in national passports, upon security clearance by the law enforcement agencies. 

While Bangladesh's statutory family laws theoretically apply to all residents irrespective of citizenship, practical restrictions are imposed on the registration of marriages and divorces involving Rohingya refugees. Several administrative orders prohibit the registration of marriages between Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi nationals. Regarding marriage and divorce among Rohingya refugees, the Government instructed their camp authorities to maintain marriage and divorce register books for respective camps. Currently in the camps, the Camp-in-Charge offices (CiC – responsible for administering the refugee camps on behalf of the Government) issue marriage and divorce registrations, and permission must be obtained for registration of such events within the camps.

Birth registration is another area where Rohingya refugees face significant challenges. The Government suspended formal birth registration of Rohingya children since September 2017. Subsequently, since June 2022, birth certification by a local court started exclusively for Rohingya children whose families have been verified and cleared for repatriation by Myanmar. Rohingya refugee children’s births are otherwise jointly recorded by camp authorities and UNHCR inside camps. Mixed marriages are not registered by camp authorities, and children born to such marriages face registration/documentation challenges within camps. In addition, children born out of mixed marriages are not issued formal birth certificates or any civil documentation by the Government.

Death registration for refugees is also unregulated, with no standardized process or executive orders in place. The current practice involves CiCs issuing death certificates and maintaining records, while UNHCR updates its database based on this information.