Passport Renewal Experience (Passport Office Awami Markaz Karachi)

• Wanted to renew the passports of my daughter, wife, and myself – without resorting to an agent.
• Passports were still valid but for less than six months.

Phase – 1: Fee Submission

• First visited the Passport Office – Awami Markaz Branch (Directorate General Immigration and Passports) for information and fee submission. This time I went alone. Reached there ~10 am.
• Information desk at Passport Office was functional and helpful.
• For Fee submission, I headed to the National Bank Awami Markaz Branch located upstairs (2^nd Floor I guess) inside the building. Ask anyone for directions.
• Normal Fee was Rs. 3,000 for 5 years passport.
• Now they have started issuing 10 years Passport also. Fee is Rs. 5,400 but the facility is not available for kids. Urgent Fee was Rs. 6,000 and 9,000 for 5 and 10 years respectively.
• Fee submission was a straight forward process and does not need any support from agent.
• At passport office there was a written warning displayed about agents giving customers fake bank slips so be careful and do that yourself even if you hire an agent.
• The guy at the Bank’s cash counter asked for original CNICs also. He was not interested in passports but I carried them anyways.
• For daughter, the Child Registration Certificate (B-Form) was needed mainly to write her CNIC number on the fee form. I was not carrying that. But got the magic number by calling back home and it was sufficient.
• Jurisdiction: Awami Markaz Passport Office is only for certain localities in Karachi, mostly belonging to the former District East. Others shall visit Passport Office Saddar.
• The above process (information gathering and fee submission) took me hardly an hour.
• Documents to Carry: CNIC, B-Form, Passport (None is required as such but they will ask you at the Information Desk or at the Bank’s Cash Counter).
• Documents needed for the submission of renewal form (next visit): Original CNIC, Original Passport, and Original B-Form (Originals are must) of the applicant. Photocopy CNIC/B-Form and Photocopy Passport of the applicant. For daughter we needed to attach Photocopies of our CNICs and Passports. No photographs are required.

Phase – 2:

• Reached Awami Markaz at around 9:15 am and after parking the car headed directly to the Passport Office ignoring the omnipresent and persistent touts. (No need to go upstairs)
• Pre-arranged photocopies of all the above documents including photocopies of wife’s and my parents’ CNICs.
• Was short of some photocopies which were easily done by the photocopy shop besides the Passport Office. Rs. 5 per copy; CNIC or otherwise.
• Since we were early, there was almost no queue at the Passport Office and we were let in by the guard in a couple of minutes after checking our bank slips. He told us to keep original CNICs, Passports, and Bank Slips in our hand.
• Inside, the first step was the photograph. There they also gave us the Call Slip. Took 5 minutes.
• Next step was the bio-metric finger prints. Not needed for the daughter. Took 5 more minutes.
• Then there was the data entry desk. There they needed all the photocopies. Made us a print-out of the forms and stapled photocopies to each one of them. Took slightly more than 5 minutes.
• Afterwards, there was the guy who was stamping the forms. He asked a few basic questions while stamping it and returning that back to us. Took 5 more minutes.
• Then we went to some officer/director sitting in the cubical. He handled a couple of cases before attending us. He also asked a few basic questions hurryingly and in the meanwhile checked our forms. Took 10 minutes.
• Last time he asked for our parents CNICs and we were not carrying them and this time when we arranged and carried them he did not bother!
• He also asked whether there is a valid visa on the passport before affixing the ‘Cancelled’ stamp.
• He kept wifey’s and my forms with him while returned the daughter’s one instructing us to submit that back after getting it attested by a government officer.
• Attestation was kind of a nuisance so I checked outside with agents; one quoted Rs. 400 while the other suggested me to get that done by a known person to avoid the fake attestation.
• The whole process took hardly 30 minutes which was the fastest in my whole life. Hats off to Chaudhary Nisar – our Interior Minister, although there is room for improvement.
• Now I have to submit back the duaghter’s form after getting it attested.
• We were told to collect our new Passports from Passport Office, Saddar after 15 days.

More Tips

• Keep Original CNIC with you all the time even when you visit only for submitting the Fee.
• It is better, although not a must, to submit the fee a day, or more, ahead to save the time at Passport Office queue.
• When going for fee submission, it would be smarter to take a ball pen along to save time.
• Parking available behind the building and is free of charge.
• Keep your parents CNICs (Original or Photocopy) also, just in case.
• Absolutely no need to get an agent. Be there early, submit the fee a day or two ahead (valid for six months), ignore touts, and you will be done without much hassle.