Residents in Islamabad are voicing their concerns over the massive delay in the issuance of passports at the Executive Passport Office in Blue Area, Islamabad.

According to the official website of the Directorate General of Immigration and Passports, the urgent passport should be issued within “five working days.” However, experiences from people paint a different picture.

A ProPakistani employee shared a particularly troubling experience. After paying for urgent processing of his passport, he was informed by the staff that his passport would be issued in 10 days.

This is only slightly lower than the standard 15-day processing time for regular passports. This raises the question of why there is a difference in fees for the two services, given that the processing time is nearly similar due to delays.

It is also worth noting that the receipt, which is available with ProPakistani’s employee, originally stated a five-day processing time. However, the Passport Office worker crossed out the original text and wrote “10 days.”

While delays can occasionally be expected due to a surge in applications, such a doubling in the processing time of an urgent request leads to considerable inconveniences for citizens who rely on quick services, especially in emergency situations.

“It makes no sense,” the ProPakistani employee complained. “I paid extra for the urgent processing. If there’s hardly any difference between the standard and urgent processing times, why have the option at all?” he argued.

Source: Pro Pakistani