The Pakistani E-Passport: Fees, Timing and Who Needs It

Pakistan's e-passport, the familiar green booklet with a biometric chip hidden inside the front cover, has been rolling out from Directorate General of Immigration and Passports counters since 2023, one city at a time. For most travellers the question is no longer whether the chip exists but whether it is worth switching before the current document's expiry date. This guide sets out the fees DGIP has posted, the application route and the honest case for and against an early move, written the way HTG Travel talks travellers through documents before any booking.

What the Chip Actually Changes

Inside the front cover sits a chip holding the same biographic data printed on the photo page, secured to international passport standards. That has two practical effects. First, forgery gets harder: a cloned data page without a valid chip fails the electronic checks that border systems increasingly run. Second, convenience: chip readers and self service lanes at Pakistani airports and many abroad are built for the electronic document. One rumor worth burying: the chip is not a tracker, holds no location history and is read only when a border officer or a gate opens it. Europe's new EES border system is a good example of the direction border checks are taking, and the chip is the format that direction favors.

The Fees on the Table

DGIP's posted normal category fees for the ten year e-passport are Rs 13,500 for the 36 page version and Rs 24,750 for the 72 page version. Pakistani reports in late October 2026 note that the Directorate moved to e-passport-only issuance from 23 October 2026, closing the machine readable book for new applications and renewals, with the standard five year 36 page e-passport posted at Rs 9,000 normal and Rs 15,000 urgent, roughly double the old book's rate, while already issued machine readable passports stay valid until expiry. Fees get revised from time to time, so treat these numbers as posted rates at the time of writing rather than a quotation. Fees are per applicant, so a family of four multiplies the number, and the honest comparison is against a decade of border crossings rather than one ticket. That is how HTG Travel's document desk frames every expiry decision we check for travellers.

How Applying Works

The process mirrors the ordinary passport: application at a passport office or through DGIP's online services in the renewal category for inland and overseas Pakistanis, then token, biometrics and delivery. Carry the existing passport, CNIC, children's B-form where applicable and the fee receipt; photographs and biometrics are captured at the counter, and the DGIP helpline (111 344 777) answers process questions on working days. Executive Passport Offices in the big cities move faster for a fee. Overseas Pakistanis should also read our passport renewal from abroad guide and the NICOP guide, because the right document depends on which passport is expiring and where you actually live. The in-Pakistan process is mapped step by step in our passport renewal guide.

Who Should Switch Early

DGIP allows a full validity five or ten year passport to be issued even when the old document has not expired, so switching is a choice, not a rescue. The case for moving now is strongest for:

• Frequent flyers crossing several borders a year, who feel every extra minute at counters
• Families flying Umrah repeatedly, especially on the one year multiple entry Umrah visa
• Students heading abroad for long programmes who need decade long validity
• Heavy visa collectors filling pages with Schengen and UK stamps, who should take the 72 page version
• Anyone whose current passport is within a year of expiry anyway

If your machine readable passport is newly issued and you travel once a year, finishing it before switching is perfectly reasonable. The chip is an upgrade, not an emergency, and our six month passport validity guide matters more to your next visa than the chip does.

Passport sirf safar ki ijazat nahin, zimmedari ka kaagaz hai; jise zyada safar karna ho, usay zyada khabardar rehna parta hai.

Ek Dil Se Baat

Aaj duniya mein sab se zor daar currency kaghaz ki ban gayi hai: jiske paas passport nahin, uske liye samandar ka kinara bhi band hai. Ya Allah, Falasteen ke logon ko unki zameen ki wapsi ka kaghaz likh de, unka ghar aur unka baagh unhein wapas farma. Sudan mein ghar ke kaghaz jal chuke hain aur khet chhoot gaye hain; aye Rab, bhaage hue logon ko rasta, rozi aur apna ghonsla wapas ata kar. Ameen.

Aakhri Baat

A chip passport will not add a single visa-free country to the green booklet; the visa free destinations list is decided by diplomacy, not technology. What the chip buys is speed, security and a decade of quiet at counters. Emirates-based readers now have their own e-passport-only process, mapped in our UAE renewal guide. HTG Travel checks the document side before every itinerary we build and answers document questions the same day, because travel advice that lives only in a phone call is advice you will lose.