Govt earns Rs80 billion from 13 million passports issued over two years

ISLAMABAD: Total number of passport offices in Pakistan has reached 232, while internationally Pakistan’s passport can be obtained from 93 locations.

This was revealed by the ‘Annual Performance Report’ of Passport and Immigration Department released on Tuesday. The report encompasses the performance journey from ending the passport backlog to providing 24/7 and timely services across the country.

The report, as released by the Directorate of Immigration and Passports, shows that during the past 17 years, a total of 55 million passports have been released, with an annual average of 3.4 million issuances. However, in the last two years, annually 6.7 million passports were issued, due to increased demand. This culminated into a total of 13 million passports issued over the past two years.

In the last one year, 130,318 overseas Pakistanis were provided with online passport services, the report added.

On the financial side of things, the Passport Department deposited a total of Rs295.7 billion in the government treasury in the last 16 years. Out of this, Rs80 billion was deposited in the government treasury during the last two years alone, (Rs40 billion annual average).

The department also issued 53 Pakistan Citizenship Certificates in the last one year, along with 4,447 re-nunciation certificates and one naturalization certificate.

The report also said that infrastructure was upgraded and modern security features were introduced during the last one year. These upgraded features include 32 new passport counters across Pakistan.

Passport counters were also provided in all provincial assemblies and bar councils, while 24/7 passport supply facility was provided in all major cities of the country.

Moreover, 10 modern passport printers and six laminators were purchased for timely printing of passports to overcome the backlog of passport issuances. The Passport and Immigration Department is also introducing e-gates system linked to e-passports, across the country.

Passport app was also upgraded on the instructions, the report said, adding that the passport offices were converted into state-of-the-art buildings during the past one year as well.

As per the report, 73,700 complaints on the Prime Minister’s Performance Delivery Unit were resolved by the Department, during the past one year.

DG Passport Department Mustafa Jamal Qazi said that providing timely and secure passports to citizens is the top priority of the department. “Since the end of the lockdown, 24/7 services have been made possible,” he said, adding that the Passport Department is committed to providing convenient services to Pakistani citizens around the world on modern requirements.

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