Pakistan will stop issuing machine-readable passports and fully adopt electronic passports within a month, according to a recent federal government decision shared with the National Assembly by the Ministry of Interior. Once this change happens, passport offices throughout the country and Pakistani missions in foreign nations will provide exclusively e-passports.
Valid expiration dates still apply to all currently held machine-readable passports. MNA Malik Shakir Bashir Awan prompted this disclosure by asking a question during the National Assembly Question Hour.
Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr. Tariq Fazal Chaudhry answered supplementary questions by stating that authorities are pushing to launch the fresh system in roughly a month. Adapting to global technological progress and shifting immigration rules motivated Pakistan to embrace e-passports, he noted.
Document security will increase because an electronic chip inside each e-passport prevents forgery, the minister mentioned. Yet, he admitted that operational hurdles at passport offices combined with a massive population might cause rollout delays. Lawmakers received his assurance that authorities are trying hard to finish the switch quickly.
Answering a separate inquiry from Syed Tariq Hussain, Chaudhry concurred that the current passport infrastructure requires upgrades to satisfy modern international immigration guidelines. Global utilization of e-passport technology led Pakistan to adopt the identical approach, he stated.
