Government Cuts Passport Delivery to 14 Days, Mandates Cashless Offices

The federal government has announced a significant overhaul of passport issuance procedures, reducing the standard delivery period to 14 days and ordering all passport offices across the country to adopt cashless payment systems. The directive represents the most substantive administrative reform to the Directorate General of Immigration and Passports in recent years.

The decision was aimed at addressing persistent public complaints about delays, corruption, and the lack of transparency in the passport issuance process. By mandating digital and card-based payments, the government intends to eliminate cash handling at offices, which has historically been a vector for under-the-table facilitation payments and unofficial speed fees.

Officials indicated that the 14-day timeline would apply to regular passport applications, with urgent processing remaining available for applicants with travel exigencies. The cashless mandate is expected to be implemented across all regional passport offices within a specified transition window, though implementation capacity at smaller offices remains a practical challenge.

The reform aligns with the government's broader digitisation agenda for public services, which has seen parallel cashless and digital integration efforts in sectors including driving licences and utility payments. Civil society has long advocated for such changes to reduce the burden on ordinary citizens navigating bureaucratic processes.