• Home

Pak missions to introduce computerised visa system

DUBAI — By July of this year, Pakistani missions in the country will introduce the new Computerised Machine Readable Visa System.

At present, all visas issued at the Pakistan Embassy in Abu Dhabi and Pakistan Consulate General in Dubai are done manually.

Speaking to Khaleej Times, Najeeb Durrani, Head of Chancery at the Pakistan Consulate, said, “At present, we are filling out visa application manually. With the introduction of the new machine, the whole system will be changed.”

Last week, the Directorate-General of Immigration and Passports of Pakistan announced that the country would launch the new Computerised Machine Readable Visa System from the beginning of the fiscal year 2007-2008. It was also announced that the system would be in place by July this year and would be introduced by all Pakistani missions abroad.

Durrani said that that they had not been informed by the authorities in Pakistan yet. “However, technology is always better and we are looking forward to the system,” he said, adding that the application system and time for visa issuance will not change. “Only new visa stickers will be prepared as per international standards,” he said.

Authorities in Pakistan have started working on the project which includes the development of software and procurement and deployment of hardware.

“The design of the new visa stickers has been finalised and the Pakistan Security and Printing Corporation (PSPC) is in the process of serial production of the new stickers,” say officials from Directorate-General of Immigration and Passports of Pakistan.