Thousands of passports held up in Nadra tiff

KARACHI: Even if the best travel deals have been booked and the tickets reserved, your holiday plans might be in grave danger because of the new spat between the National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) and the passport office.

Passport printing has been temporarily stalled because one of the most important steps of the procedure, identity verification by NADRA, has been blocked by the authority.

In 2004, NADRA decided to switch from face identification to the automatic fingerprinting identification system (AFIs).

Passport printing requires the documents to be sent to NADRA, which has to match the fingerprints on the national identity cards with those on the passport. The passport does not get the final print unless this verification is made.

The passport department has to pay Rs20 per passport to NADRA for this verification. However, the immigration department has not made these payments in a while and owe NADRA fees worth thousands of rupees. In retaliation, NADRA has suspended the verification system.

The final verification of fingerprints cannot be carried out because NADRA has blocked the system.

This conflict between the authorities has delayed the printing of passports for more than a week. The spat comes at the peak of holiday season when trips across the world, including pilgrimmages to Saudi Arabia, have been finalised.

Immigration officials said that they have collected documents from people but they cannot finalise passports unless they are verified by NADRA.

People who applied for an urgent passport as early as June 29 have yet to receive their passport, even though the urgent fee guarantees delivery within four to five days.

Several pessimistic travellers complained that they paid Rs4,000 for the urgent passport delivery but they have yet to receive their books even after 10 days.

“There was no point in paying more for the urgent passport,” said one of the disgruntled people at the Karachi passport office, adding that if he had applied for a normal passport it would have taken months.

The information booth located outside the main gate of the passport office fails to provide accurate information to people, they added.

An official at the office, requesting anonymity, said that the AFIS had been shut down by NADRA, which is why the printing of passports is taking so long. He did not know when the problem will be solved.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 9^th, 2010.