Good news for passport applicants in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Amid the increase in the number of passport application in Pakistan, the Directorate General of Immigration and Passports has decided to provide an ease for the applicants, ARY News reported.

As per details, the passport delivery counters will remain open 24/7 across all cities in Pakistan to facilitate citizens in obtaining their passports quickly and efficiently.

According to the Director-General of Passports, Mustafa Jamal Qazi, citizens can now collect their passports from any of the 227 passport offices across the country at their convenience.

The Director-General also announced that the big lock issue, which had been causing delays in passport issuance, has been completely resolved. This means that passport applicants will no longer face unnecessary delays in obtaining their travel documents.

Earlier, two mega National Database and Registry Authority (NADRA) centres in Karachi begun operations to provide citizens with efficient passport services.

The two NADRA mega centres located at Siemens Chowrangi and North Nazimabad have five counters each for passport processing. Three counters will be dedicated to processing, one for distribution, and one for approval.

Citizens can now visit these centers 24/7 to renew their passports or apply for new ones.

The assigned staff started performing their duties at the counters with the official inauguration ceremony for both centers taking place next week.

It’s worth mentioning here that DG Mustafa Jamal Qazi earlier claimed that, the backlog of pending passports across Pakistan had been cleared, during a surprise visit to the production unit.

The DG reviewed the printing and issuance process, highlighting that since July 1, a record 3,376,510 passports have been printed. These include, issuance of 776,451 passports in normal category, 1,896,403 were printed under urgent category and 703,656 were printed under fast track category.