# Passport tracking in Pakistan: how to check your application status (2026) Source: Searchable (https://searchable.pk/guides/government/passport-tracking-status-check) Type: Guide Author: Searchable Editorial Published: 22 Sept 2026 Updated: 22 Sept 2026 Retrieved: 30 Sept 2026 > Your status comes by SMS from 9988, to the number you gave at Data Entry. Here are the eight stages, the 2026 fees, and what to do when it stops moving. Your passport application has a token. Everything you can find out about where it has reached hangs off that token and the mobile number you gave at the Data Entry counter. This guide covers the official channels only, what each stage of processing actually means, and what to do when the application stops moving. One thing first, because it is the single biggest trap on this subject. The Directorate General of Immigration and Passports publishes a warning on its own portal: "Online Applications for Pakistan's Passport can Only be submitted at https://onlinemrp.dgip.gov.pk/ - We Do NOT have any COLLABORATION with any website." Every "passport tracking" site that asks you for your CNIC, token number and a fee is not DGIP. Some of them are harvesting identity data. Do not enter your CNIC into any of them. ## 1. The SMS system on 9988 DGIP runs an SMS based Passport Tracking Intimation System. It is not a code you dial on demand. It works the other way round: DGIP sends you the status. The department's instruction is to "provide their correct cell number at Data Entry stage during passport processing, so that your passport application status can be shared on your cell number through SMS code 9988." So the number you read out at the Data Entry counter is the number that will receive every update. If you gave a number that belongs to your brother, your agent or an old SIM, the updates are going there and not to you. This is the most common reason people think their application has vanished. If you are standing at the Data Entry counter right now, read the number back to the operator and check it on the screen before you sign. Correcting it afterwards means a visit to the same passport office. ## 2. The eight stages, in DGIP's own order DGIP lists the passport process as eight stages. Knowing the order tells you what "it is in process" actually means when you are told that at a counter. 1. **Customer Service Counter.** You arrive, staff check which application type you need and whether your documents are complete. 2. **Photograph and Token.** Your data is captured: photograph, CNIC number, application type. This is where your token with its QR code is issued. Keep it. 3. **Biometrics.** Fingerprints of both thumbs and both index fingers. 4. **Data Entry.** An official records your information and you verify it on screen. Your mobile number is entered here. 5. **Verification.** Your case is cleared against the Exit Control List and the Black List. 6. **Interview and Decision.** An Assistant Director interviews you and approves the case to move forward. 7. **Fee Payment.** You can pay by scanning the QR code through any digital payment platform. 8. **Delivery.** The passport is handed over only to you or to a blood relative. Stage 5 is where applications stall most often and where nobody at the counter can help you, because ECL and Black List clearance does not sit with the passport office. ## 3. What the categories cost The category you paid for is what determines urgency. These are the inland fees from DGIP's own fee page, all inclusive of the Rs 1,000 service charge and taxes. **Five year validity, inland:** - Normal, 36 pages: Rs 5,500 - Urgent, 36 pages: Rs 8,500 - Normal, 72 pages: Rs 9,200 - Urgent, 72 pages: Rs 14,500 - Normal, 100 pages: Rs 10,000 - Urgent, 100 pages: Rs 19,000 **Ten year validity, inland:** - Normal, 36 pages: Rs 7,700 - Urgent, 36 pages: Rs 12,200 - Normal, 72 pages: Rs 13,400 - Urgent, 72 pages: Rs 21,200 - Normal, 100 pages: Rs 14,500 - Urgent, 100 pages: Rs 28,000 Overseas applications through the e-Services portal carry a Rs 2,500 service charge plus applicable taxes instead of Rs 1,000, so a ten year, 36 page urgent passport costs Rs 13,700 before delivery charges. Collection from a passport office or a foreign mission is free. Delivery abroad is charged according to the country. Our [passport fee calculator](/tools/government/passport-fee-calculator) works out your exact total including delivery. A point worth making plainly: DGIP does not publish a guaranteed number of working days for normal or urgent on these pages. Anyone quoting you an exact day count is quoting a rule of thumb, not a published commitment. Pay for urgent if your travel date is close, and do not build a booking around a promised date that nobody has actually promised. ## 4. If you applied from abroad Overseas renewals go through the e-Services Portal at onlinemrp.dgip.gov.pk, and the portal itself is the status record. The flow is three steps: register an account with a valid mobile number and email, complete the application with photograph, fingerprints and supporting documents uploaded, then pay by Visa or Mastercard credit or debit card. Note the portal's own caveat: you may still be called for an interview at the passport office you selected in the application. That is why the form asks you to pick a nearest office even when you are applying from another country. DGIP has also introduced passport renewal for the general public through the PakID mobile application, in collaboration with NADRA. ## 5. When it stalls: what actually works **Check the number first.** Before anything else, confirm which mobile number is attached to the application. If it is wrong, the SMS updates on 9988 have been going to someone else all along. **Go back with your token.** The token issued at stage 2 carries the QR code that identifies the case. The counter cannot look you up efficiently without it. A photograph of the token on your phone is usually enough, but carry the original where you can. **Ask which stage, not "is it ready".** "Which of the eight stages is it at, and what is the hold" gets a useful answer. "Is my passport ready" gets "it is in process." **If the answer is verification,** the hold is ECL or Black List clearance, and that is not resolved at the passport counter. You need the case number and to take it up with the office that placed the entry. **Use the official contact channel,** which is the Contact Us page on the DGIP e-Services portal, not a phone number you found on a third-party site. ## 6. Mistakes that cost people weeks - Giving an agent's mobile number at Data Entry. Every update then goes to the agent. - Losing the token before delivery. It slows every subsequent visit. - Assuming urgent means a fixed number of days. It means a higher fee and a faster queue. - Paying a "tracking fee" on a website. DGIP charges nothing to tell you your status and has no partner websites. - Sending a friend to collect it. Delivery is to the applicant or a blood relative only. - Applying on a CNIC that is expired or under review. Sort the CNIC out first, because the passport case will sit at verification otherwise. Our [NADRA tracking guide](/guides/government/nadra-tracking-id-check-cnic-status) covers checking where a CNIC application has reached. ## The short version Your status reaches you by SMS from 9988, to whichever number was entered at Data Entry. There is no official web portal where you type a token and get a live status for an inland application, and every site offering one is a third party DGIP has publicly disowned. Keep your token, know which of the eight stages you are at, and if the hold is at verification, the passport office is not the place to solve it. ## Frequently asked questions **How do I track my Pakistani passport application?** DGIP sends the status to you by SMS from the code 9988, to the mobile number recorded at the Data Entry stage. There is no official web portal where you enter a token number for an inland application. DGIP states on its own portal that it has no collaboration with any other website, so tracking sites asking for your CNIC and a fee are not official. **What does 9988 mean for passport tracking?** 9988 is the short code DGIP uses to send passport application status updates. It is an intimation system: DGIP messages you rather than you querying it. The updates go to whichever number was entered at the Data Entry counter. **How much does an urgent passport cost in Pakistan in 2026?** For an inland application, an urgent 36 page passport is Rs 8,500 for five year validity and Rs 12,200 for ten year validity, both inclusive of the Rs 1,000 service charge and taxes. Collection from a passport office is free. **How many days does an urgent passport take?** DGIP does not publish a guaranteed number of working days for normal or urgent categories on its fee or process pages. Urgent means a higher fee and a faster queue, not a committed date, so do not book non-refundable travel around a day count quoted by a third party. ## Sources - Passport Application Process (Directorate General of Immigration and Passports): https://dgip.gov.pk/passport/process.php - SMS based Passport Tracking Intimation System (Directorate General of Immigration and Passports): https://dgip.gov.pk/updates/sms-passport-tracking-system.php - Application Fee: Machine Readable Passport (DGIP e-Services Portal): https://onlinemrp.dgip.gov.pk/fee-details - e-Services Portal FAQ (DGIP e-Services Portal): https://onlinemrp.dgip.gov.pk/faq How to cite: "Passport tracking in Pakistan: how to check your application status (2026)", Searchable, 22 Sept 2026, https://searchable.pk/guides/government/passport-tracking-status-check