ONE of my close friends, who is a Green Card holder living in California, had applied to get her passport renewed on Dec 6 last on an urgent basis. Even though her application was accepted by the portal/system, she was asked to upload the back side of her National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (NICOP)/Green Card with a new picture. She complied with the instructions and successfully uploaded the new picture on Jan 16 this year.

However, the other day, she got another email from the authorities concerned, asking her to upload a new picture with required specifications. She got the new picture and tried to upload it, but failed as there was no option at all to upload any additional document on the portal.

Confused, she contacted us seeking help from Pakistan. Fortunately, we were able to locate a friend who managed such affairs, and she was issued approval notification by the passport authorities on Jan 22.

It is difficult to understand why Pakistani embassies abroad are not authorised to get the passports of overseas Pakistanis renewed. Why are they forced to apply for the renewal of their passports through a portal that is managed in Islamabad? In case of any error, they are at the mercy of the system, and the renewal gets delayed and remain uncertain.

In order to resolve the issue, all Pakistani embassies must have direct access to the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) database.

The government may consider authoris-ing all Pakistani embassies to get the passports renewed so that in case of an error, the matter is addressed efficiently.

Khawaja Tajammul Hussain
Karachi

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2026