Passport fee hike rumours squashed

Officials confirm passport fees last updated in March amid hike rumours.

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Pakistan’s Directorate of Passport and Immigration has denied recent media reports claiming an increase in passport fees, clarifying that the fees were last adjusted on March 7.

A spokesperson from the directorate stated that the latest rumours about a new fee hike are baseless.

They confirmed the rates set in March, specifying that the five-year normal category fee for a 36-page passport remains Rs4,500, with Rs7,500 for urgent service and Rs12,500 for fast-track processing.

For the 72-page passport, the five-year fees are set at Rs8,200 for normal service, Rs13,500 for urgent, and PKR 18,500 for fast-track. In case of a lost passport, the first re-issue fee for a 36-page passport is PKR 9,000 in the normal category, with double or triple fees applied for second and third instances of loss, respectively.

The spokesperson urged citizens to disregard recent fee hike claims, confirming that passport fees are structured based on page count and category, covering separate rates for 36-page, 72-page, and 100-page passports.

Previous media reports, which have been denied by Pakistan’s Directorate of Passport and Immigration stated that federal government of Pakistan has unveiled a new fee structure for passports, including e-passports, machine-readable passports (MRPs), and replacement passports for those lost or stolen.

The revised fee structure introduced separate charges for different types of passports. For a 36-page e-passport valid for 5 years, the normal fee will be Rs3,000, with an urgent fee of Rs15,000.

For a 75-page e-passport, the normal fee is set at Rs15,500 with the urgent fee at Rs27,000 for a 10-year validity.

For machine-readable passports (MRPs), the fees are as follows: a 36-page MRPs valid for 5 years will cost Rs4,500 for normal processing and Rs7,500 for urgent processing.

A fast-track service for MRPs will cost Rs13,500. For a 72-page MRP valid for 10 years, the normal fee is Rs6,700 and the urgent fee is Rs11,200.