ISLAMABAD: National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) chairman Tariq Malik on Sunday said over 8.2 million overseas Pakistanis holding National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (Nicop) had been registered with Nadra and vowed to provide digital solution to most of the problems faced by them.

“Nadra is a learning organisation and I do not want to miss any opportunity to interact with the overseas Pakistanis to learn from them to improve the system and address the common issues facing them,” he said while addressing the Overseas Pakistanis International Conference (OPIC).

Mr Malik said the number of overseas Pakistanis possessing both Nicop and machine-readable passports was over six million, adding that as many as 0.465m of them had opened Roshan digital account powered by Nadra, fetching revenues to the tune of $3.6 billion.

Referring to the new initiatives taken by Nadra and their success, he said the Pak-ID app capable of biometric face and fingerprint capture and document scanning has been used by over 0.137m people for contactless biometric verification from the comfort of their homes in a few months. He said the innovative application enabled people to use their smartphones for biometric verification.

Tariq Malik says online visa system rolled out to 84 countries and over 600,000 applications processed

The Nadra chief said the online visa system had been rolled out to 84 countries and over 600,000 applications received through it had so far been processed.

He said the digital portal launched initially in North America and the United Kingdom to automate the process of Power of Attorney for overseas Pakistanis would shortly be linked up with Nadra’s database and further extended to all embassies and consulates abroad. He said 426 overseas Pakistanis had availed the facility since its launch in November 2021.

Mr Malik also talked about the Nadra Centralised Complaint Management System (NCCMS) that provides a unified view of complaints related to all Nadra products, services and projects. “With an effective monitoring mechanism, the NCCMS has the feature to escalate the complaint if it is not resolved in a given resolution timeframe. When a complaint is not resolved in due time, there is also a super escalation feature that brings up the complaint directly to the Nadra chairman,” he explained.

Secretary Office of International Chapters of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Dr Abdullah Riar, while speaking on the occasion, lauded the government’s efforts meant to facilitate overseas Pakistanis and said that through the Roshan digital account millions of rupees came in remittances on a daily basis. He said the incumbent government had taken remarkable steps for the welfare and development of expatriates in the history of the country.

He said the main purpose of this conference was to thank the incumbent government for taking historic steps for overseas Pakistanis, adding that a series of projects and schemes were launched for the betterment of expatriates and their dependents in different sectors.

Dr Abdullah said five per cent population of the country was living abroad and sending over $30bn remittances to Pakistan which was playing a significant role in the national economy. He said the prime minister had restored the dignity of green passport across the globe.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2022