ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Thursday inaugurated a machine-readable passport system at the Pakistani embassy in Baghdad, the ministry said, replacing the manual one for Pakistanis traveling to Iraq or living in the country.
According to the interior ministry, around 25,000 Pakistani citizens currently live in Iraq while many travel to the Middle Eastern state for investment and employment reasons. A large number of Pakistanis also visit Iraq's religious sites each year.
The new system will replace the manual passport issuance system, under which Pakistanis living in or traveling to Iraq were issued a passport for only one year, the interior ministry said.
“Pakistani citizens living in Iraq and those visiting religious sites will now be able to obtain machine-readable passports with a five or ten-year validity,” the ministry said in a statement.
“Due to the manual passport system, the Pakistani community in Iraq had to face several problems in acquiring visas, employment, or a residence permit (iqama),” it added.
Additionally, the Pakistani embassy in Baghdad will be able to verify the data of Pakistani citizens living in Iraq online.
“The provision of all possible facilities to overseas Pakistanis is among the priorities of the government,” Sanaullah said during the inauguration ceremony.
The minister, along with a delegation of scholars, is on an official visit to Iraq to discuss a range of bilateral issues with the Iraqi leadership.
On Wednesday, Sanaullah held meetings with his Iraqi counterpart, Abdul Amir Al Shammari, who agreed to increase the quota for Pakistanis visiting the country’s religious sites from 50,000 to 100,000, the ministry said, adding that he also met Iraqi president Abdul Latif Rashid.
Relations between Pakistan and Iraq have received a boost with a number of ministerial-level exchanges in recent years. In August last year, Iraq’s Foreign Minister Dr. Hussein visited Islamabad to discuss ways to strengthen bilateral relations.
During the visit, a memorandum of understanding on “Bilateral Political Consultations” was signed so that regular consultations on bilateral, regional, and international issues could be held between the two nations.
