KARACHI – A sigh of relief for those waiting for their passports in Pakistan as officials announced that passport delivery counters will remain operational 24/7 in all cities across the country.
To further streamline the passport delivery process, Directorate of Immigration and Passports issued orders to all zonal heads to ensure the smooth implementation of this initiative. According to DG Passports Mustafa Jamal Qazi, the applicants can now collect their passports from any of the 227 passport offices nationwide, at any time, without facing delays.
The new move is said to be part of larger effort to eliminate the backlog in passport processing, making passport issuance more efficient and timely.
Last week, Federal Minister directed the Passport Department to establish 24/7 passport processing counters at NADRA Mega Centres across Pakistan, starting with 10 counters in Karachi’s Nazimabad and Siemens Chowrangi.
The 24-hour service will be expanded nationwide, with the Islamabad office already operating 24/7. Officials are also introducing facial recognition technology on January 15 to assist citizens unable to undergo fingerprint verification. Additionally, a consultative conference will be held to discuss improvements in biometric and identity verification systems.
The process is getting smoother as compared to last year when Department of Passports and Immigration faced significant delays in processing passports due to a shortage of lamination paper, machinery. The situation caused delays of up to four months for standard applicants, with massive passports pending.
In 2024, several pilgrims were unable to perform Umrah due to delays as DGPI struggled to secure timely supplies, but the issue got resolved.
Pakistan imported 10 new desktop machines, and it doubled daily passport printing capacity. As of Jan 2025, around 20,000 to 22,000 passports are printed daily, while applications nationwide range from 45,000 to 50,000 per day.
