The government has announced a significant increase in passport fees in the fast-track category along with keeping one passport office open 24 hours a day in Karachi and Lahore in order to eliminate the backlog.
According to media reports, the revised fee structure shows a substantial increase in various categories of passports based on page count.
From May 8, the fee for a 36-page machine-readable passport has been increased to Rs 12,500. For those opting for more number of pages, the fee for a 72-page passport has gone up to Rs 18,000, and Rs 23,000 for a 100-page passport.
Fees have been increased further for those who wish to obtain a passport for a longer validity period of 10 years. The fee for a 10-year machine-readable passport with 36 pages is now Rs 16,200, while the fees for 72 and 100 pages go up to Rs 25,200 and Rs 32,000 respectively.
On May 6, the Directorate General of Passports and Immigration increased passport processing fees in general and urgent categories.
Despite the increase in fees, backlog issues and delays in processing passport applications persist, leaving many applicants frustrated with the system’s performance. In this regard, the Ministry of Interior had decided to keep at least one passport office open 24 hours a day in Lahore and Karachi.
