Despite paying urgent fees, authorities failed to ensure the timely issuance of passports to citizens, prompting action from the Federal Ombudsman (FO).
Taking action upon the complaints of delay in the issuance of passports, a team of the FO visited passport offices located in the G-8 and G-10 areas of Islamabad.
The director general of passports drew the ire of the officials over the delays despite citizens paying for urgent issuance. Later, the passport offices in the federal capital were ordered to return the urgent fee of passports to citizens. Furthermore, the Interior Secretary was directed to assess the situation and take necessary steps to clear the backlog to ensure timely issuance of passports.
The inspection team was informed by the administration of the Directorate General of Immigration and Passports that the non-availability of lamination paper caused the delay.
However, it assured that the backlog will be cleared as soon as they have received the lamination paper. The Federal Ombudsman’s team directed the administration to ensure the timely procurement of lamination paper in the future to avoid such a situation.
The visiting team also interacted with the applicants at the passport offices, who expressed their anger at the delay in the issuance of the passport.
According to some of the applicants, their visas have expired as they have been waiting for their passports for months.
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