Govt tightens passport rules to combat begging, illegal immigration

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Interior Ministry has announced stringent new passport regulations as part of a comprehensive crackdown on begging and illegal immigration. The measures were finalised during a high-level meeting at the Directorate of Immigration and Passports chaired by Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi.

The meeting brought together key officials including State Minister for Interior Talal Chaudhry, Interior Secretary Muhammad Khurram Agha, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Director General Riffat Mukhtar Raja and Passport DG Mustafa Jamal Qazi.

Minister Naqvi directed authorities to accelerate implementation of the new requirements, stating: “These carefully designed conditions will serve as strong deterrents against begging syndicates and illegal migration attempts.” He emphasized strict enforcement of passport blacklisting for deported individuals.

The interior minister personally inspected newly installed passport processing equipment, including six Machine Readable Passport (MRP) machines and two advanced e-passport systems installed by a German technical team.

“This technological upgrade will significantly enhance our processing capacity and service delivery,” Naqvi observed. During the briefing, Passport DG Qazi revealed plans for a new mobile application to streamline citizen services.