The Ministry of Interior announced that no proposal to lower passport fees is being considered, after stating the government collected Rs219.931 billion in passport fees from the 2021-22 through 2025-26 fiscal years.
In a written reply to Senator Talha Mahmood's query, the ministry detailed yearly receipts: Rs21.618 billion in 2021-22, Rs34.495 billion in 2022-23, Rs50.906 billion in 2023-24, Rs64.392 billion in 2024-25, and Rs48.52 billion in 2025-26.
Authorities have stopped issuing machine-readable passports, now providing only e-passports for all fresh applications nationwide. This shift has almost doubled the price of a new passport. The standard fee for a five-year, 36-page passport increased from Rs4,500 to Rs9,000, and the urgent fee rose from Rs7,500 to Rs15,000.
The revised charges are effective in Lahore and throughout the rest of the country. Existing machine-readable passports will stay valid until they expire.
The report adds that the previous fast-track fee for a machine-readable passport was Rs12,500, versus Rs22,000 for the comparable e-passport. Fees for 72-page passports will increase proportionally.
