How To Apply For A Passport

Introduction to How To Apply For A Passport

How To Apply For A Passport. We all are familiar with the fact that traveling abroad without a passport is not possible. You need a passport for traveling across the world. As a driving license is mandatory for driving a car, similarly passport plays the role of permission for traveling.

The requirements for applying for a passport are instructed by the government. After a complete investigation of your biodata i.e your name, address, fingerprint, etc. They issue a passport with your photo. This passport allows you to travel around the world.

Pakistan’s passport allows you to travel to any country except Israel. This statement is also written on the Pakistani passport that you cannot travel to only the country “Israel”. It is the policy of the Pakistani embassy.

For applying for the passport, different documents are required as guided by the embassy. Different countries ask for different requirements of the people who are queuing for a new passport.

In this article, we will discuss how to apply for a passport in detail.

Different Categories Of Passports :

Ordinary Passport :

This type of passport is very common. This passport is usually issued for common citizens by the Directorate General of Pakistan. The cover of the passport is of green color which is used by citizens to visit different countries for routine travels i.e business traveling, vacations or tourism trips.

Diplomatic Passport :

Diplomatic passports are issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the diplomats who represent the country Pakistan to other countries. This passport has a cover of red color. This red color is a symbol for the diplomatic passport.

Official Passport :

Official passports are issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for government servants who travel abroad for specific tasks assigned by the government. These are, members of the National Assembly (MNA), Senators, Provincial Ministers, and judges of high courts and supreme courts. This passport has a navy blue color on its cover. This color represents the “Official Passport”.

Machine Readable Passport :

The abbreviation of “MRP” is Machine Readable Passport. For the citizens of Pakistan, usually, a machine-readable passport is issued.

Required Documents

If we talk about the required documents for MRP are shortlisted below :

Your Computerized National Identity Card if you are above 18 years or a Registration Certificate of children which is usually called as (Form B) with two photocopies.
You have to pay a bank challan fee according to the category of your passport.
The validity of a passport for children whose age is below 15 years is 5 years.
If you want to renew your passport, then an old passport is also required.
Bank Challan Receipt should be kept along with you while going to Regional Passport Office.
If you are a government servant then No Objection Certificate (NOC) is required.

Validity Period Of A Passport :

The passports which are issued by the Directorate General of Immigration & Passports are valid from 5 years to 10 years. You have to pay the fee according to the period of validity of your passport.

The validity of the passport of children is limited to 5 years. It cannot be extended to a period of 10 years. Another point that should be kept in mind that is, if a passport with 5 years validity is issued once then it cannot be changed or extended for 10 years validity.

Stages Of Process :

After paying the bank challan fee and submitting all the required documents, you have to visit Regional Passport Office for getting your Machine Readable Passport. Before visiting Regional Passport Office, the Original bank challan must be along with you.

The fee challan should be paid from one of the branches of the National Bank.

Following steps that should be followed by you in Regional Passport Office are described briefly :

You have to visit the Customer Service Counter
They will give you a token assigned with the number of your turn.
When your turn comes, you will go through the process of capturing photography
Afterward, fingerprints will be captured that are Biometric.
All biodata will be entered into the system of NADRA.

Customer Service Counter :

First of all, you have to visit the customer service counter at Passport Office. How to apply for a passport, detailed instructions will be given by the receptionist at the counter. If you carry all the required documents then you can get tokens from the token counter for further process.

Process of Capturing Picture :

Afterward, you have to visit the token counter, where your photo will be captured for your passport. Then you have to give the original CNIC or “Form B” if you are below 18 years.

Biometric :

For further procedure, you have to visit the biometric counter where your fingerprints are captured for the record in the NADRA office in Pakistan. Then they will ask for your biodata i.e your name, address, mobile number, your academic qualification, etc.

Applicants can apply for the passports in two ways i.e “Normal” or “Urgent” passport. The fee varies for the category you chose accordingly.

Normal Passport :

A normal passport is issued within 10 days. But sometimes it takes longer due to the distance of the Regional Passport office. The shipping may take some time.

Urgent Passport :

The urgent passport is usually issued within 5 days, similarly, it can also take 2 or 3 more days due to some issues.

Fee Structure For 5 Years Validity :

Normal Fee :

If you are wished to issue a normal passport with 36 pages you have ta pay 3000/- PKR. If you want 72 pages on your passport then you have to pay for it i.e 5500/- PKR.

If you want 100 pages then you have to pay 6000/- PKR.

Urgent Fee :

If you are wished to issue an urgent passport with 36 pages you have to pay 5000/- PKR. If you want 72 pages on your passport then you have to pay for it i.e 9000/- PKR.

If you want 100 pages then you have to pay 9000/- PKR.