By Mahmood Idrees
LAHORE – Applicants of normal and urgent category passports in Pakistan are facing mental agony due to massive delay, which is attributed to slow printing process due to some technical reasons.
Details available on official website of the Directorate General of Immigration and Passports say the normal fee passport will be issued after 21 working days of the application while urgent fee passport will be issued in five working days.
However, the on ground situation is altogether changed as the notices pasted at the Lahore regional office says the normal passport would take around two months and urgent passport 15 days.
The applicants’ experience with the passport office reveals shocking facts. An applicant of the normal category at the passport office in Lahore said he had submitted application in early January 2024 but he has not received his travel document till April 26.
“I have just few days left to travel back to the foreign country where I do a job,” the applicant said while looking at a notice pasted on the window of the passport delivery section.
Another applicant revealed that he had submitted the application for normal category passport in December 2023.
When contacted Assistant Director Tanveer at the passport office in Lahore, he said the department was receiving extraordinary number of applications in fast track category, causing delay in issuance of normal category passports.
He said per day printing capacity stood at 25,000 to 30,000 passports, adding that fast track and urgent applications were given priority. He said normal category passports are printed if there is space after catering the two categories.
Tanveer said it took six months to get a normal passport in India, adding that people should avail fast track or urgent service if they want to get the passport early.
He admitted that the issuance of normal category passports was taking four to five months. While replying to a question about rush inside the office, he said people who want to get their passports renewed should opt the online service instead of visiting the offices.
“I myself applied online for passport renewal of my family and it is an easy and hassle free process,” the assistant director said.
An applicant suggested that the government should fix a quota for printing of normal, urgent and fast track passports so applicants of each category could be catered. He said the printing capacity could also be enhanced as the passport department is generating handsome revenue.
A data entry operator on a condition of anonymity at Lahore’s passport office said the department generated Rs47 billion in 2023 but lamented that they had to wait for hours to get printing papers if they are finished.
Normal Passport Delivery Time in Pakistan
The normal passport delivery is taking more than four months after submitting the application due to printing capacity issue.
Urgent Passport Delivery Time in Pakistan
According to official website, the urgent category passport is issued within 5 days while the notice displayed at regional offices says it would take 15 days.
