Passports
Passport
A Pakistani passport is an official travel document issued by the Directorate General of Immigration & Passports (DGI&P), enabling citizens to travel internationally. It serves as proof of identity abroad and affirms the holder’s right to exit and re-enter the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Passports printed at PSPC conform to International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards
Types of Pakistani passports:
- Ordinary Passport: Issued to all citizens of Pakistan
- Official Passport: Issued to government officials
- Diplomatic Passport:The Diplomatic Passport is issued to dignitaries of the State and Diplomats
- Emergency Travel Document (ETD):Issued to Pakistanis abroad in case of emergency, in order to travel back to Pakistan one time.
- Machine Readable Visa Sticker:Issued to Foreigners for entry in Pakistan
- Visa Stickers
- Physical stickers affixed to passports, for foreign nationals for entry into Pakistan.
Machine Readable Passport (MRP)
In 2004, manual passport were upgraded to modern Machine Readable Passport (MRP). The MRP contains a special Machine-Readable Zone (MRZ) at the bottom of the identity page. The data in MRZ is encoded in optical character recognition format. This allows automated verification of the passport's authenticity for faster processing of arriving passengers by immigration officials, and greater accuracy than manual passport, as well as faster data entry.
E-Passports
The e-Passport is a secure travel document with an embedded electronic chip that stores the holder’s personal data. The contactless (NFC) chip enables electronic verification of identity. The newly launched Pakistani e-Passports comply with ICAO standards.
