Interior ministry addresses rumours on passport fee hike 

ISLAMABAD - The interior ministry has clarified that there is no change in the fee charged for Pakistan's machine readable passport.

In a statement issued on Saturday, a spokesperson for the ministry highlighted that the rumours making rounds on social media regarding hike in the fee for machine readable passport were baseless and unfounded.

'The federal government has approved issuance of e-passport but there has been no increase in fee for machine readable passport,' said the spokesman.

The official highlighted that the facility for issuance of e-passport (which is the passport for which the procedure has been made online) has not started as of now. 

Directorate General Immigration & Passports had recently set a fee for issuance of e-passport specifically while keeping the fee intact for all other types of passports; however, soon after the news, social media was flooded with stories that there has been an increase in fee for other passport types as well.

Pakistan issues green passport to citizens while the official passport is in blue colour issued only to government officials on which they enjoy visa free access to many countries including Denmark and Norway. 

The Directorate General of Immigration & Passports operates under the Ministry of Interior and issues passports to the applicants after completion of codal formalities.