Islamabad, JULY 22: The recent federal government decision to stop issuing passports to Pakistani nationals who are applying for refuge elsewhere has been revoked. Following a high-level meeting presided over by Senator Ishaq Dar, the foreign minister and deputy prime minister, this reversal was made public on Monday.
The previous prohibition, which was put into effect by a circular published on June 5, 2024, prohibited the Passport and Immigration Directorate from granting passports to anybody who had requested or been granted refuge abroad. The introduction of this regulation was justified as a “national interest measure under national security and international commitment.”
Key officials, including the secretaries of the interior and foreign affairs ministries, were present when the decision to lift the ban was taken.The discussion examined the effects of the previous strategy and concentrated on the wellbeing of Pakistanis living abroad.
In September, Senator Dar promised to resolve passport-related concerns after being briefed on the procedural aspects of passport issuance at the session. He promised that Pakistanis living abroad will now receive their passports in less than 60 days.
Asylum seekers in nations where Pakistan does not have direct data-sharing agreements, like the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Norway, were the main targets of the prohibition. As a result, Pakistani officials encountered difficulties in monitoring these individuals’ visa statuses.
Director-General of Passports Mustafa Jamal Qazi addressed concerns about passport production delays in a related development. He told the Standing Committee on Interior of the National Assembly that efforts were on to resolve the problems with obsolete equipment and the acquisition of equipment required for e-passports. The agency has built up extra counters at passport offices and plans to purchase six new printers.
Qazi added that the lamination paper problems that caused earlier delays have been fixed. He promised that all unresolved passport issuance difficulties would be handled by the government by September.
