Passport offices and diplomatic missions abroad will continue issuing machine-readable passports until October 22, following a deadline extension by the Directorate General of Immigration and Passports.
Starting October 23, 2026, every passport office in Pakistan and all Pakistani missions overseas will exclusively grant e-passports to new applicants, replacing a previous timeline that pointed to mid-October.
Any machine-readable passport granted prior to October 23 stays valid until its printed expiration date, according to the directorate, and people with current machine-readable documents do not need an early upgrade.
Authorities explained that the shift updates travel document security and efficiency to meet global benchmarks.
