The adhoc solution for stopping applications for extensions in existing passports has already hit a wall. PHOTO: FILE
If you are waiting for a passport, and are not a VIP or faced with an emergency, you can forget about travelling any time soon. Only those with an emergency, who personally visit the Immigration and Passport Office (I&PO) in Islamabad – currently inundated with requests – are being entertained these days.
All new passport issuance requests are only adding to the rapidly growing pile of over 700,000 applications filed from around the country. After the government issued a notice, passport authorities said a tender for acquiring lamination paper and ink would be launched in 10 days.
“Till then, the number of applications will reach one million and it could go well beyond one million by the time the lamination is actually made available,” said a Passport Office official, who wished not to be named, adding that he feared the system would collapse if no emergency, workable steps are taken.
The adhoc solution for stopping applications for extensions in existing passports has already hit a wall. The ‘manual extension’ solution of extending the date on a person’s passport by putting a stamp on the existing book has already been already rejected, the officer said.
Many foreign embassies will not accept passports with manual extension for visa applications. Also, those who do not posses machine readable passports or those who have consumed all the space on their existing copies cannot be given a manual extension, the officer added.
The manual extension solution was suggested in the early days of the crisis, but it was not replaced with a better idea after it failed, said the official.
“Besides VIPs, people with Umrah tickets or other documentary evidence showing the need for a passport are being issued passports,” said another passport officer.
New tender and acquisition of lamination is at least 30 days away and that too only if it is seriously pursued, cautioned the officer.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 23rd, 2013.
COMMENTS (25)
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I feel sorry for the frustrated people...
I am stuck here and all our travel plans have been disrupted due to this inefficiency. I had kept a margin of two months for urgent but even that is insufficient.
This is a gift to us from the outgoing government.
Only in Pakistan ladies & gentlemen! My family is unable to join me in the UAE due to these inefficient and corrupt individuals!
@ss: kindly share the name and number of the agent who takes 3K to deliver it in 2 days...i am Lahore and appreciate as i am awaiting my kids passport for more than a month now.JazaAllah khair
Thank you HRK?
So we finally have an answer to Gilani's question 'who is stopping them?' Answer is Rehman Malik by not issuing passports.
and they are charging 3k for getting it printed in 2 days :-/
WAPDA + Railway + PIA + Karahi + Passports and long achievements gift of PPP and Coalitions... Great ....
Google delay in Pakistani passport and you will get entries from every year and more frequent.
Shows how much money the officials are making through agents.
It's nothing other than sheer stupidity and incompetance.
This is being done to mint money through passport agents outside passport office.
@holy TTP are also issuing passports along with visas.
Its a clear case of corruption. When the pressure will mount then they will give the tender to their favourite stating that they had tp purchase the lamination and ink for 'x' coz there was an emergency and the tender had to be given to the party quoting 100 times the price.
No power, no gas and now no passport. Come on GOP, please give your people a break if they have found some better country to live.
Can they apply for an Indian passport then? The Indians are far more efficient and their government actually cares for their citizens. Pakistan has become a joke of a country, their is no leadership and no government. No accountability.
@Mohammad: Excellent. A well placed comment and straight to the heart. They cannot manage a simple department, what to talk of managing Pakistan. All forms of crookedness, corruption and violence cloud and engulf Pakistan whenever PPP comes to power. Salams
@Usman: They don't pay their suppliers on time so their suppliers cut off supplies. God knows where the money they charge passport applicants goes.
You can not manage a mere passport printing department, how are you running Pakistan?
@Usman May be they diverted the budget to Defense department to purchase some Ammo, i said may be.
Gulam Rasool"Kuldeep sharma" New Delhi
Why so many applications????
This is causing huge embarassment and problems for expats. Our visas cannot be renewed and we will have to pay fines and penalties. Those who are in the labour category are loosing their jobs as their employers are not willing to pay penalties.
This is a shame for us expats and shows the pathetic condition our country is in. This institution like many others had become very efficient under the military rule. Now while we have democracy but our lives have become miserable and shows the corruption in our leaders.
This clearly shows how our Immigation and Passports Departments are efficient.
As soon as the care-taker Prime Minister should take oath, he should immediately come to the rescue of passports applicants who are running from pillar to post to get their passports.
I would request the electronic and print media to interview the passports applicants and find out as upto what extent their lives have been made miserable by the Immigration and Passport Department, which was directly working under Ministry of Interior and the famous and efficient Interior Minister, Mr. Rehman Malik.
Where is Cheif Justice now? He takes notice only on Breaking News.
What are the root causes of this situation? How come such an important institution runs out of lamination sheets/other materials? We need answers!
Great Pakistan..!!