Pakistan has ended its 22-year-old machine-readable passport (MRP) system. According to the Directorate General of Immigration and Passports, all passport offices across the country and Pakistani diplomatic missions abroad have been issuing only e-passports since October 23, 2026.
Citizens who already hold MRPs can keep using them until they expire. After that, the passports cannot be renewed, and holders will need to apply for an e-passport.
Pakistan began issuing e-passports in March 2022, first to diplomats and residents of Islamabad. In August 2023, all citizens were given the choice between an MRP and an e-passport. Before MRPs, Pakistan had issued handwritten passports since independence in 1947.
A week earlier, replying to a question from MNA Malik Shakir Bashir Awan in the National Assembly, the interior ministry said MRP issuance would stop within a month. Anyone applying for a new passport will now receive an e-passport directly.