Abu Dhabi: Despite a UAE crackdown on handwritten passports, the Pakistani Embassy in Abu Dhabi said it was still compelled to issue between five and seven handwritten passports daily to newborn babies and others in emergency situations, the embassy told Gulf News on Wednesday.
"Considering [on an average] 150 passport applications daily, this number [five to seven handwritten passports] is negligible," said Farhat Ayesha, second secretary at the embassy's passports section.
An embassy spokesman said the embassy began issuing electronic passports in July, 2008 and decided to stop issuing handwritten passports in July.
However in cases of emergency, Ayesha said the embassy was still compelled to issue handwritten passports on the same day because electronic passports took 15 days to be issued from Pakistan — even in an emergency, she said.
"We cannot tell somebody [in an] emergency to wait until 15 days," Ayesha said.
Newborn babies needed a passport urgently for their birth certificate and health insurance, so the embassy issued a handwritten passport to them on the same day in the case of an emergency, or otherwise within seven days, she said.
No new issues
As Gulf News reported on Wednesday, the UAE recently stopped issuing new visas to Pakistanis holding handwritten passports. The embassy said the change would not affect Pakistanis being able to renew their visa in the UAE, but no new visas would be issued to those who changed jobs or sponsorship. The new rule would also affect Pakistanis who wished to visit the UAE.
"Whoever wants to renew the handwritten passports can do it at the earliest," Ayesha said.
Two-year process
The process of converting all Pakistani handwritten passports in the UAE into electronic passports is not expected to be completed until 2012 or 2013, the Pakistan Embassy has said.
Pakistani passports are valid for five years, so renewals for handwritten passports issued in the UAE before July, 2008 [when the embassy began to issue electronic passports] will be completed by 2012- 2013, the embassy official, said.
