KATHMANDU, Oct. 23 -- The mandatory provision of the Diversity Visa of the United States to include the applicants' passport number from this year has resulted in a dramatic surge in the number of persons seeking passport.

The DV lottery for 2021 which was opened on October 2 introduced a few new rules for entries where the all applicants must mention their passport number, country of issuing the passport and passport expiration date.

According to the Department of Passports (DOP), 500 people used to apply for passports on an average day before the announcement of DV lottery of this year. The number has reached 2,800 applicants per day since the DV lottery was opened.

"We suspect the number will increase in the same rate in the coming ...