Foreign pilgrims from Pakistan will receive their passports in seven days.

To expedite the process of issuing passports to Pakistani pilgrims who are travelling abroad for the Hajj and are enrolled in the private Hajj programme, the Ministry of Religious Affairs has developed a policy.

For thousands of Pakistani citizens living overseas, who were unable to complete the holy pilgrimage due to protracted passport application delays, this policy provides a welcome reprieve.

Its goal is to make the process of issuing and renewing a passport easier for Pakistanis living abroad. The passports will be provided as soon as the Religious Affairs Ministry’s efforts are rewarded.

The recently developed policy will speed the clearance procedure for pilgrims who hold dual citizenship, requiring the authorities to finish the clearance in no more than seven days. In order to ensure quick processing for the pilgrims, automatic clearance will be presumed if it is not granted within this timeframe.

The pilgrims will be given temporary passports after being cleared. Previously, obtaining a passport required months of waiting for Pakistani nationals holding dual citizenship.

The Ministry of Religious Affairs was informed of the gravity of the issue, according to sources within the ministry.

Additionally, it was stated that in just three days last month, passport authorities successfully processed the passports of 28,000 Hajj pilgrims who were sponsored by the government.

The sources also stressed how the biometric verification process was being impacted by the delayed passport issuing, guaranteeing that all pilgrims could finish the required processes without experiencing undue delays.