Pakistani passport

Pakistani passports () are passports issued by the Government of Pakistan to Pakistani citizens and nationals for the purpose of international travel. They are issued by the Directorate General of Immigration & Passports (DGIP) of the Ministry of Interior from regional passport offices and Pakistani embassies. Since January 2014, Pakistani passports have validity for 5 and 10 years. Under national law, Pakistani passports are explicitly invalid for all travel to the State of Israel, and Pakistani nationals are likewise strictly barred from travelling to the Jewish state under all circumstances.
Pakistani passports are machine-readable and biometric. Until 2004, Pakistani passports had the bearers' particulars written by hand, with the passport picture glued to the cover page; since then, passports have identity information printed on both the front and back cover ends, and both of these pages are laminated to prevent unlawful modification. In 2004, Pakistan began issuing biometric passports which, however, were not compliant with the United Nations' ICAO standards because they did not carry the "chip inside" symbol (). Pakistani passports are printed at the DGIP headquarters in the capital city of Islamabad.
Types.
The "Passport Act, 1974" and "Passport and Visa Manual (1974)" regulate the issuance of Pakistani passports. The Government of Pakistan issues three types of passports to its nationals:
Discontinued types.
Pakistan formerly issued a special Hajj passport to Pakistani nationals making an Islamic pilgrimage known as Hajj to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. These are no longer issued, and ordinary Pakistani passports may now be used for this purpose.
Security features.
The key security features of the Pakistani passport are:
Physical appearance.
Ordinary Pakistani passports have a deep green cover with golden-coloured content. The Emblem of Pakistan is emblazoned in the center of the front cover. The words 'Islamic Republic of Pakistan' (English) are inscribed above the emblem and ", " and 'Passport' (English) are inscribed below the emblem. The standard passport contains 36 pages, but frequent travellers can apply for a passport containing 72 or 100 pages and the fees of fresh/new Pakistani passport has been reduced.
Passport in 1948.
301
Shares
The Henley Passport Index (HPI) – an annual global ranking of countries according to the travel freedom of their citizens – placed the Pakistani passport at #102 in its 2019 list of most and least powerful passports of the world list.
HPI has been compiling and issuing this list since 2006 which ranks and lists passports from over a hundred countries according to the number of destinations the citizens of these countries can visit without obtaining a visa.
Pakistan’s passport has continuously found itself lingering in the bottom half of the list.
Even though global passport rankings were introduced in 2006, it is believed that if the strength of the country’s passport before 2006 was to be explored by using the HPI ranking and scoring model, the Pakistani passport – from 1961 till 1974 – would have been one of the top 30 passports of the world.
Passport Ranking By Period.
Pakistani Passport HPI Rankings 2006-2017
2006: 79
2007: 83
2008: 87
2009: 87
2010: 90
2011: 99
2012: 100
2013: 91
2014: 92
2015: 103
2016: 103
2017: 102
Passport note.
The passports contain a note from the President of Pakistan addressing the authorities of all states, identifying the bearer as a citizen of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and requesting and requiring that the bearer be allowed to pass freely without any hindrance and be assisted and protected in any need. The note inside of Pakistani passports states:
Visa requirements.
In 2021, Pakistani citizens have visa-free or visa on arrival access to 23 countries and territories.
Pakistani passport fees has been reduced for fresh/new passport.