ISLAMABAD: Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhary told the National Assembly on Friday that the government aimed to complete the transition to electronic passports (e-passports) across the country to bring Pakistan’s immigration system in line with modern international standards.
Responding to a question during question hours, he said all passports currently being issued in Pakistan were electronic passports with embedded chips to improve security and prevent forgery.
He said immigration technology was advancing rapidly worldwide, making it necessary for Pakistan to adopt modern systems to reduce errors and strengthen passport security.
The minister said modern machinery had been installed at various passport offices and at the headquarters of the Directorate General of Immigration and Passports in Islamabad.
However, he acknowledged that the transition could take longer than expected because of Pakistan’s large population and the need to ensure the availability of equipment at different locations.
Replying to a supplementary question, he said machine-readable passports had served their purpose in the past, but advances in global immigration systems had increased the need to adopt newer technology.
He said Pakistan needed to keep pace with international requirements to ensure that its citizens could travel abroad without difficulties as other countries upgraded their immigration systems.
The minister said the government was also expanding access to passport services by extending the network of passport offices to districts and tehsil-level areas.
He added that applications submitted by overseas Pakistanis through Pakistani embassies and consulates were generally forwarded to the headquarters for the issuance of e-passports.
Chaudhary said the department had increased its passport-processing capacity by installing modern machinery to improve service delivery.
He said the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) had developed expertise that had attracted interest from other countries seeking to study and adopt similar systems.
He said Pakistan was working to keep its immigration and passport services in line with evolving international technology standards.