Govt cuts passport processing time, moves towards cashless system

The government has reduced passport processing time and decided to introduce a cashless system at passport offices as part of measures to improve public service delivery, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi announced on Thursday.

The decisions in this regard were taken in a meeting presided over by Naqvi and Minister of State Talal Chaudhry in a bid to facilitate citizens.

Naqvi announced that the processing time for a normal passport has been reduced from 21 days to 14 days, the Ministry of Interior said in a press release.

According to the ministry, he also said a fully cashless system will be introduced in passport offices, directing officials to implement it within 15 days. “Eliminating cash payments would help curb the agent mafia and improve public convenience,” he noted.

The interior minister instructed authorities to expedite work on the issuance of a business passport and finalise its system at the earliest.

The meeting also decided to further improve the home delivery system for passports.

Naqvi emphasised that establishing a passport authority is essential to enhance the system and provide better services to the public.

The meeting was attended by the federal secretary interior, director general Passport and Immigration department, and other relevant officials.

“SHIKRA,” a state-of-the-art monitoring system designed to overhaul the passport application, printing process and performance of the passports department was launched on January 26.

The system, officially known as Secure Hybrid Intelligence for Knowledge-based Response Analytics (SHIKRA), marked a significant shift toward total digitisation at the Directorate General of Immigration and Passports.

“The SHIKRA system enables 24/7 supervision of the entire passport lifecycle, from the initial application to final delivery, both in Pakistan and across global missions,” the Ministry of Interior had said in a statement.