JEDDAH — Pakistan's Consul General Aftab Ahmed Khokher has said the consulate has started an appointment system for the delivery of machine readable passports (MRPs) and there was no need for applicants to line up at the mission. “Starting next week, we will give appointments between 12 noon and 2 p.m. MRPs will be distributed to between 50 and 55 applicants an hour,” Khokher said. He said the applicants could make appointments to collect their MRPs through telephone by providing their iqama or passport number. “As many people are not familiar with the new system, we will also give appointments to people who come to the consulate in person in the initial stage,” he said. “We will continue to extend services to people visiting the mission without appointment. We serve 200 to 250 people on a daily basis between 8 a.m. and noon. Gradually, we will introduce a token system through appointment with the aim of reducing crowding at the consulate.” Khokher said people could make appointments online as well. “We plan to give 150 to 200 online appointments each day.” On the size of the MRPs, Khokher said the new passports contain 36, 72 and 100 pages and the fees are SR155, SR280 and SR305 respectively. For the issuance of passport on an urgent basis, the fees are SR255, SR455 and SR605. “The delivery of urgent passports will take 15 to 20 days,” said Khokher.
