Here is reason for delay in passports' issuance

ISLAMABAD: The Immigration and Passports Department stopped issuing new passports due to what it termed a link-down that prevented the department from entering data.

According to the details, the Passport Office official said the issue was developed from the Passport and Immigration headquarters’ end. They said that the problem would be fixed and that operations would shortly resume.

They said that data entry for passports is not being done due to the link-down.

It should be noted here that the Directorate General of Immigration and Passports took immediate measures two months back to overcome the shortage of lamination papers upon receiving directions from the Interior Ministry.

Additional officials and staff were deployed for the timely delivery of new passports.

Earlier in October 2023, it was reported that the backlog of unprinted passports had reached 700,000 due to a shortage of lamination paper in Pakistan.

The issuance of a new passport has been suspended for over a week now as Pakistan has yet to receive the order of lamination paper.

The suspension of passport print had affected the masses willing to travel abroad. Taking notice of the matter, then-caretaker Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti also talked to the officials and ordered them to ensure the timely printing of the passports.