Passport applicants are expected to wait longer to receive their travel documents due to the shortage of lamination papers, local media reported.
Citing its own sources, a local media outlet reported that despite an inadequate stock of lamination papers, the concerned officials didn’t take timely measures to guarantee an ample provision of the papers.
Last week, there were no positive changes in the supply chain to avoid any future risks. Now, the printing and delivery of new passports is expected to face delay across the country.
It will most likely take a month, probably more, to deliver passports to applicants who paid the normal fee if the issue isn’t resolved.
Passport offices continue to receive new applications despite the fact that they can’t guarantee timely delivery due to the shortage of lamination papers. This could potentially lead to an increase in the number of pending passports.
So far, no official statement has been issued to address the concerns of the applicants. Recently, the Directorate General of Immigration and Passport extended the passport delivery time.
Now, normal passport delivery will take up to 21 working days. Meanwhile, urgent and fast-track passports will take 5 and 2 days, respectively. Earlier, the normal passport was delivered in 10 days, urgent in 4 days, and fast-track in 2 days.
