Getting passport in Pakistan without hassle

We have all experienced the long queues and incessant chatter of agents outside passport offices. This post will help you circumvent most queues and allow you to get a passport with ease. Be sure to follow these guidelines:

1. Payment: You are required to pay a fee for getting your passport printed. You have the option of getting an urgent or normal delivery passport. (Normal passport arrives in whereas Urgent arrives in 4 days). Update: DGIP has introduced a method for ONLINE payment  called Passport fee Asaan)

In addition, you can get a passport for 5 or 10 years validity and have the option of 36, 72 or 100 pages. The payment structure for MRP passport as follows:

Payment in Rs.	Normal (10 days delivery)		Urgent (4 days delivery)
Pages / Validity	5 YEAR	10 YEAR	5 YEAR	10 YEAR
36 pages	3,000	4,500	5,000	7,500
72 pages	5,500	8,250	9,000	13,500
100 pages	6,000	9,000	12,000	18,000

Price correct as of Jul 2023

Decide on what you need and deposit this amount in National Bank. There is an NBP booth at Lahore Garden Town Passport office, but I recommend depositing this fee a day before going to the passport office. With the launch of Passport Fee Asaan, avoid going to the bank and pay online through the link above. In case you STILL want to pay at a bank, do it 1 day before the day you plan to go to the Passport Office.

You will need to print and fill this slip: https://www.nbp.com.pk/Forms-Applications/PassportChallanForm.pdf to be able to pay

And here are the branches of NBP that accept this payment: http://www.dgip.gov.pk/Files/Banks.aspx
Now you can deposit fee in any branch of NBP

Remember, you SHOULD deposit this fee a DAY before going to the office OR use Passport Fee Asaan online paymenr method.

2. Documents needed:

For a citizen's passport you need:
A. Your original CNIC and 2 copies of your CNIC (for children less than 18, Form B and need a guardian to accompany them)
B. Your previous passport and 1 copy of it  (if available)
C. Challan copy showing you have paid the passport fee

Get this done before going to the passport office.

3. Which office:

Here's a list of passport offices in Pakistan: http://www.dgip.gov.pk/files/Offices.aspx

The DGIP has also introduced an "e-passport" which is different than an MRP because it has an embedded chip. Both are being issues and acceptable for travel. However, "e-passport" fee is higher (see here) and the roll-out is only in Islamabad for now.

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Why I posted the above method is to help first time Passport Applicants from the Mafia of agents who feed the Passport Office officials, guards, employees as well. 

It was 2006, when I decided to get my passport made, and we chose the Barket Market Passport Office for the deed. However, we survived a callous attempt by an agent to scam money extra money out of us.

We decided to get normal passports for me and my father, so Rs. 4,200 would be the cost. As the lines were long and we were new to the process, we were coaxed by an agent to rent his services. First, we gave them Rs. 4,500 to deposit in the bank against the passport fee. The remaining Rs. 300 was pocketed by the agent on account of "too much heat" in the bank. 

Second, we were only helped in getting inside the Passport Office. All other processes, we had to carry out ourselves. Since my passport was a fresh one, I had to get it attested. The agent did not offer any  help and when I came back to submit the form, the "incharge" told me that the signatures were not correct because the signatory was not a Government agent. This gave the agent a whiff of money. He made up a story that "my number was not being fetched" in the Passport system, hence we would have to go to the other passport office on Abbott Road. So the next day, we took the agent to the other passport office, he took Rs. 2,000 from us but said that the problem could not be solved. This time he said that we would have to take a trip to Islamabad which would cost us Rs. 10,000 to fix the issue. 

By this time, we had had enough and we told him to return the money we had given him so far. Not expecting this response from such naive customers, the agent balked and said he would try again. Next day, the form was submitted and I received the passport 15 days later. Hence, we lost Rs. 2,300 to the agent who only helped us deposit the passport fee and was about to scam us for Rs. 10,000. 

After this incident, I never used an agent for my passport renewal. I submitted the fee myself a day earlier, reached the office early morning and got done quickly. 

Unfortunately, many people and even friends of mine get scammed with the same "number not being fetched" line because they do not know better.