Myanmar’s New Passport Law Raises Alarm

Yangon – Myanmar’s military regime has passed a new passport law requiring all citizens to upgrade to biometric e-passports, sparking fears of surveillance and abuse.

The legislation, approved on Tuesday, mandates that existing passports be replaced as early as next year with e-passports linked to digital ID cards introduced in 2024. These IDs store fingerprints and facial recognition data. A central 10-member Issuance Board, chaired by the deputy home affairs minister, will hold sweeping powers to approve or reject applications.

Critics warn the law could be weaponised against dissidents and ordinary citizens alike. Article 6 allows the board to cancel passports and blacklist applicants if notified by “relevant ministries,” while Article 29 permits denial to anyone deemed to be engaged in “subversive activities.” Legal experts say such vague terms effectively give officials arbitrary authority to target opponents.

“This is administrative weaponisation of the law to target political dissents,” one lawyer told the Irrawaddy. Digital rights advocates echo the concern, noting Myanmar lacks any effective data protection framework. “E-passports may be positive elsewhere, but here they carry serious risks absent legal safeguards,” said Thit Nyan of the Myanmar Internet Project.

The move is particularly troubling for thousands who joined the Civil Disobedience Movement after the 2021 coup. Many fled abroad, but critics fear their passports could now be cancelled or refused renewal, leaving them stranded.

Since the coup, the junta has detained more than 22,400 people and killed nearly 8,000, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. A UNDP youth report last year found nearly 40 per cent of young people would consider leaving the country if given the chance – precisely the group opposition figures say the new law is designed to restrict.

For Myanmar’s citizens, the e-passport law is less about modernisation than control, tightening the regime’s grip on freedom of movement and deepening fears of surveillance in a country already scarred by repression.

-2026-03-20