The prices have been reduced across the board for both five- and 10-year, as well as ordinary and urgent passports

Much to the relief of Pakistanis living in the UAE, the country’s missions have reduced fees for new passports by 50 per cent for some categories.

The prices have been reduced across the board for both five- and 10-year, as well as ordinary and urgent passports. In addition, fees have also been reduced for people seeking reissuance of passport if they have lost it.

Ahmed Amjad Ali, Consul General of at the Consulate General of Pakistan, Dubai, said all the non-resident Pakistanis living and working here will benefit from this decision by the government, especially the lower-income group.

He pointed out that this was the need of the hour, considering people had lost jobs and salaries were cut during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“During coronavirus, many people were laid off and salaries were cut so it is a big relief for Pakistanis living here as prices for passports have been reduced between 20 to 45 per cent in some categories. The prices were reduced last month and this will benefit everyone, especially the lower strata of the community,” he added.

The price of five-year ordinary machine readable passport of 36 pages has been slashed from Dh150 to Dh85, 72 pages passport from Dh280 to Dh155, and 100 pages passport from Dh300 to Dh170.

The UAE is home to the second-highest number of non-resident Pakistanis in the world. There are approximately 1.6 million Pakistanis living and working in the country. Pakistanis hailed the initiative taken by the government.

“This is a welcome move because the UAE hosts a large number of blue-collar workers and the fee was high for them. This is a big relief for all of us. The government has been promising for quite some time that it would give relief to non-resident Pakistanis. Finally, something has come through,” said Hassan Shaukat, who is a Dubai resident for over 10 years.

Sheikh Najam-us-Saqib, who is a Dubai resident for over 20 years, also welcomed this news which directly benefits the overseas community.

“The decision of the Directorate General of Immigration and Passports, Ministry of Interior, to slash the passport fee is commendable. Expatriates in the UAE are immensely contributing towards uplifting Pakistan’s economy by sending record remittances through banking channels. In my view, they deserve more such benefits in recognition of their services to the country,” he said.