Pakistan: Dearth of lamination papers, passport delays ‘jeopardies’ dreams of students, citizens in country

Pakistani citizens are facing trouble obtaining their passports due to the acute shortage of lamination paper in the country, a Pakistani media agency said on November 9, 2023. Tha lamination paper is an essential component in passports and is imported from France said a report, citing the nations Directorate General Of Immigration and Passports. The paper shortage has led to a nationwide scarcity of passports.

Impact on Pakistanis

People across the country are distraught as their hopes of studying abroad or moving out of the cash-strapped nation have been shattered. Several students who have enrolled in universities abroad such as the United Kingdom and the United States of America were unable to go there as they did not get their passports in time. They told a national media agency that it was unfair that they should pay a price for the inefficiency of the government department.

The shortage of passports is like a nightmare for the citizens, especially students. According to Zain Ijaz, a resident of Gujrat (Pakistan) who faces the risk of his dream to study in the United Kingdom being jeopardized due to an unusually prolonged passport processing time.

Another student from Peshawar named Hira said “My student visa for Italy was ready and recently approved and I had to be in the country by October 2023, but the unavailability of the passport has robbed me of an opportunity to leave.”

Apart from students, others have also been adversely affected. A person named Gul from Punjab (Pakistani Punjab) said “ I was all set to move to Dubai for work soon. My family and I were beyond ecstatic that our fortunes would finally change, but the mismanagement of the DG-I&P has cost my golden ticket to poverty and this country.”

Situation in Pakistan

The Director General of the Media of the Ministry for Interior, Qadir Yar Tiwana said that the Pakistani government is working to resolve the crisis and will soon bring the situation under control. However, people are skeptical as they have been unable to obtain their travel documents. He told the national media agency that he received a text message from the DG-I&P in October 2023, that his passport was ready to be picked up, but when he reached the office, the staff told him that his passport has  not arrived yet.

According to Muhammad Imran, a resident from Peshawar also said that the passport office had been promised him since September that his document would come next week, but several weeks have passed and it had not arrived yet. Regional passport offices confirmed that they are processing a significantly reduced number of passports daily, from 3000-4000 passports per day to 12 or 13 now.

As per a national media agency, the country faces a backlog of about seven lakh passports and once the lamination papers arrive, the printing will continue on a large scale even during the weekends to cover up the time and loss.

The situation remains uncertain leaving many applicants in limbo. As per the report, the current situation is not an isolated incident. In 2013 the process of passport printing had come to a halt as the DG-I&P owing money to printers and lack of lamination papers.