Only e-passports to be issued in Pakistan
Wire desk byline Sourced from Xinhua, Dawn, Arab News, Anadolu and Minute Mirror. Translated and abridged by the GSRRA Desk.
Pakistan will gradually shift to issuing only e-passports, while cash payments at passport offices will end from July 1, 2026. A new mobile app and doorstep delivery service are also being prepared.
Pakistan will gradually move to issuing only electronic passports, while passport offices across the country will stop taking cash payments from July 1, 2026, under a reform plan discussed at a high-level meeting at the Directorate General Immigration and Passports headquarters.
The meeting was chaired by Director General of Immigration and Passports Muhammad Ali Randhawa and was held on the instructions of Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi. All zonal heads and senior officials attended to review the roadmap for upcoming reforms, their implementation, and steps aimed at making passport services quicker, simpler and more efficient for applicants.
Officials were informed during the meeting that all passport offices nationwide would discontinue cash fee collection from July 1, 2026, and would instead accept payments only through a QR code-based digital system. The change is part of a wider effort to modernise passport services and improve public convenience.
The meeting was also told that the Directorate General of Immigration and Passports would soon introduce a dedicated passport mobile application. The app is intended to allow Pakistani citizens living in the country and abroad to apply for passports online from their homes.
Under the planned system, applicants will also be able to receive their passports at their doorstep. For that purpose, TCS and DHL have been engaged to provide delivery services. Officials said the measure would help reduce crowds at passport offices.
Another key decision taken at the meeting was that the Directorate General Immigration and Passports would, in the future, issue only e-passports through a phased transition away from Machine Readable Passports. The shift, officials said, would be carried out in line with International Civil Aviation Organisation guidelines.
During the meeting, Randhawa also sought recommendations from zonal heads on further improving passport services as the department prepares to implement the next phase of reforms.
Reference Link:- https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2026/06/23/only-e-passports-to-be-issued-in-pakistan
Zamir Ahmed Awan is the founder and Chair of the Global Silk Route Research Alliance, a think tank in Islamabad. He studied engineering at Shanghai University in the 1980s, and years later he went back to China as Pakistan's science counsellor in Beijing, from 2010 until 2016, working on science and higher education cooperation between the two countries.…
