Passport shortage leaves many stranded

Zain Ijaz, a resident of Gujrat, had a long-standing dream of studying in the United Kingdom. When he finally secured admission to a university in the UK, it seemed like his dream was within reach. However, an extraordinary delay in obtaining his passport now threatens to shatter his aspirations.

A scarcity of lamination paper, which is used in passports and is typically imported from France, as per Directorate General of Immigration & Passports (DGI&P), has resulted in a nationwide shortage of the travel document.

Hence, thousands like Ijaz, who need the green-coloured book for travelling abroad for study, work, or leisure are stuck, with no end to their ordeal presently in sight.

“I was all set to move to Dubai for work soon. My family and I were beyond ecstatic that our fortunes would finally change but the mismanagement of DGI&P seems to have cost me my golden ticket out poverty and this country,” bemoaned Gul, who belongs to a far-flung area in Punjab.

Hira, a student from Peshawar, can relate to Gul’s ordeal. “My student visa for Italy was recently approved and I had to be in the country in October. However, the unavailability of a passport robbed me of an opportunity to leave,” a visibly upset Hira complained, further adding that it was unfair that she was paying the price for a government department’s inefficiency.

It is pertinent to mention that this inefficiency is not a one-off event. Back in 2013, passport printing came to a similar grinding halt due to the DGI&P owing money to printers and a lack of lamination papers.

When asked about the DGI&P’s inefficiency, Qadir Yar Tiwana, the Director General for Media of the Ministry of Interior, the parent ministry of DGI&P, informed that the government was doing its best to navigate the crisis. “The situation will soon be under control and passport issuance will continue as normal,” assured Tiwana, further adding that the department had already witnessed a steady decline in the backlog.

However, Faizan, a resident of North Nazimabad in Karachi, a city which receives around 3,000 passport applications every day as per official estimates, does not buy Tiwana’s assurances. “I submitted my application more than 2 months ago and have not received my passport yet,” he said, further adding that he had to cancel his leisure trip because of the DGI&P’s mismanagement.

Concurring with Faizan, Amir, a resident of the Gulshan-e-Iqbal area of the metropolis, said that the DGI&P was clearly misleading the people about the decline in the backlog of the travel document.

Amir told The Express Tribune that he received an SMS from the DGI&P last month that his passport was ready for pickup but when he reached the concerned office the staff told him that his passport had not arrived yet.

“My passport has not arrived to date and I have had to cancel all my plans for travelling abroad,” an irate Amir said.
Muhammad Imran, a resident of Peshawar, is in the same predicament and is tired of the DGI&P leading applicants on instead of telling them the truth. “Ever since September the passport office has been stating that your passport will come next week but multiple weeks have passed and they keep repeating the same,” remarked Imran, who had to cancel his Umrah bookings in Saudi Arabia due to the lack of a concrete timeline by his local passport office.

It seems that regional passport offices in different cities are also in the dark about a concrete timeline. For instance, a senior officer of the passport office in Peshawar, disclosed to The Express Tribune under the condition of anonymity that they could presently only process 12 to 13 passports per day as compared to 3,000 to 4,000 passports per day previously and that they had no idea when the pendency would be improved. “People may have to wait for another month or two,” added the official.

Whereas, Director Passports and Immigration at the Zonal Office Saddar, Karachi, Saeed Ahmed Abbasi, when asked for a timeline, declined to comment, stating that officially he was not in a position to give an answer.