Senate body approves proposed legislation to grant blue passports to ex-parliamentarians

• Spouses of former lawmakers qualify for free blue passports.
• Dependent children under 28 become eligible for blue passports.
• Ex-lawmakers seek parity with retired federal secretaries’ facility.

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Interior on Friday approved a proposal to grant official blue passports to former parliamentarians, endorsing amendments contained in a private member’s bill.

The proposed legislation, titled the Members of Parliament (Salaries and Allowances) Amendment Act, 2026, was introduced by Senator Abdul Qadir.

Under the bill, former parliamentarians would become entitled to free blue passports, which are official travel documents issued to government officials, lawmakers, judges and military personnel undertaking official state assignments.

The bill stated that spouses of former parliamentarians would also be eligible to obtain free blue passports under the proposed amendments.

In addition, dependent children of former lawmakers under the age of 28 would also qualify for official travel document without charge.

According to the bill, retired federal secretaries and their families already enjoy the same facility.

The proposed amendments seek to place former parliamentarians on an equal footing with retired federal secretaries regarding entitlement to blue passports.

Official passports are issued to Pakistani nationals who are senators, MNAs, provincial Ministers, judges of the Supreme Court and high courts, officers serving with the government and proceeding abroad on official assignments etc, according to the Directorate General of Immigration & Passports’ website.

The development follows a similar move in May, when the Senate committee unanimously approved a bill providing blue passports to serving and retired senators.

It also considered separate legislation seeking to extend the official travel document facility to senators for life.

During that meeting, Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry informed the committee that the ministry had no objection to granting lifetime official passports to serving and retired senators.

However, he expressed reservations about extending the facility to dependent children up to the age of 28, citing concerns over reported misuse.

The committee, chaired by Senator Faisal Saleem Rehman, also raised concerns over the issuance of blue passports to adult children of senior civil servants and directed the interior ministry to submit a detailed list of active blue passports, The News reported.

The legislators further stressed the need for strict action against any misuse of official passports before unanimously approving the bill to provide blue passports to serving and retired senators.