Who is entitled to Pakistan’s diplomatic passport?

Pakistan issues diplomatic passports to the dignitaries of the State, Diplomats and other entitled categories in pursuance of Para-45 of Part-I of the Passport & Visa Manual, 2006.

Approval of Diplomatic Passports is the responsibility of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Machine Readable Diplomatic Passports shall be processed and issued by the Directorate General of Immigration & Passports (Headquarters), Islamabad based on an authorization issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The class of persons entitled to diplomatic passports includes the president, the prime minister, the Senate chairman, the speaker, the Chief Justice of Pakistan, provincial governors, chief ministers, federal ministers and ministers of state, the Attorney General of Pakistan; Ex-Presidents and Ex-Prime Ministers, Spouse and Dependent children of Ex-Prime Ministers, Ex-Chairman of Senate and Ex-Speaker of National Assembly; special assistants to the prime minister, foreign secretary, all functionaries of the federal government with the status of minister/ minister of state, officers of grade 17 and above of the Pakistan Foreign Service (PFS) for the duration of their membership of the PFS; all other officers of grade 17 and above, including officers of the armed forces having equivalent ranks sent abroad on diplomatic assignments and having a diplomatic status for the duration of their posting or other short-term assignments abroad.

Diplomatic passports are also issued to Pakistan nationals holding offices in international organizations, president of the UN General Assembly, president of the specialised agencies of the UN such as WHO, ILO, FAO, etc; executive heads of the secretariat of such autonomous and subsidiary organizations of the General Assembly as have acquired eminence; directors representing Pakistan in the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, IMF, and ADB, president & vice presidents of the World Bank and managing director & directors of the IMF; officers holding the rank of assistant secretary general and above in the UN secretariat and its specialized agencies, secretary general of the Economic Coordination Organization, secretary general of the OIC Secretariat; Executive Director of the Islamic Development Bank.

Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and Chiefs of Army, Naval and Air Staff will hold diplomatic passports as long as they hold the offices mentioned above. If they cease to hold such offices they may be required to surrender within 30-days their diplomatic passports and of spouse(s), (if they hold such passports) and may be given gratis ordinary passports valid for five years (one term only). The surrendered passports will be cancelled by the Additional Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, personally.

The Prime Minister can authorise issuance of diplomatic passports in special cases.

Children of Diplomatic Passport Holders Children under 15 years of the persons mentioned in first class of persons above may be included in their passports. If they require separate passports, they will not be given diplomatic passports. They will, however, be entitled for official/gratis passports provided they are covered under Para 9 of Passport & Visa Manual.

The spouse of person holding diplomatic passport is entitled to diplomatic passport. He / She will hold separate diplomatic passport but only so long as his / her spouse retains the prescribed office. Spouse may also be given gratis ordinary passport when his / her diplomatic passport is surrendered.

The alien wife of a Pakistani diplomat should be accorded the same treatment as the alien wife of any other Pakistani. This means that if the nationality law does not allow her to secure a passport of the country to which she belonged, she should be allowed to obtain a diplomatic passport of restricted validity (not exceeding one year at a time) provided she gives a clear understanding that she will acquire Pakistan citizenship in Pakistan after obtaining a certificate of domicile and taking an oath of allegiance. If, however, she is able to secure a passport of her own country she shall retain that passport until she obtains a certificate of domicile under section 17 of the Pakistan Citizenship Act, 1951 which will entitle her to a Pakistani diplomatic passport.

No authority other than the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will, in any circumstances, issue authorization for diplomatic passports.