ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has introduced a complete digital system for attestation of documents, under which citizens can now apply online from home and will be issued an e-certificate via email after verification.
It is pertinent to mention that citizens wishing to go abroad for higher education or employment have to get their educational certificates and other related documents verified from the Foreign Office. Before verification from Foreign Office, these documents must be attested by the issuing institutions such as educational certificates from respective Boards, Inter Boards Coordination Commission (IBCC) and Higher Education Commission (HEC).
Although other stages of verification are also not easy, the Foreign Office stage was the most difficult where citizens could not succeed in their purpose for many days and agent mafia also ruled, who used to extort thousands of rupees from citizens for this work with alleged connivance of Foreign Office staff.
Last month, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) claimed to have arrested 2 officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs allegedly involved in embezzlement of crores of rupees in this regard.
Similarly, Geo TV in a report, citing an internal inquiry regarding the Foreign Office document verification system, claimed that up to Rs 12 billion was collected from citizens through unofficial sources during one year.
In this regard, yesterday a journalist of Business Recorder newspaper had requested the spokesperson of the Foreign Office to share details of the recommendations of the committee set up by the Deputy Prime Minister to investigate irregularities.
However, the spokesperson could not brief the media much in this regard because according to him, the members of the investigation committee do not belong to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and when their proceedings are completed, they themselves will announce it.
The spokesperson did say that the Foreign Office is moving towards a digital system in order to make the document verification system faster, transparent and more accessible to the general public.
He said that e-attestation service has been started through the ministry’s online portal, while work is also underway for issuance of e-apostille. This system will include online applications, electronic payments, digital verification and electronic certification.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the new system has been active since October 12, 2026 and will be applicable to the central office in Islamabad as well as liaison offices established in Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta and Gujarat
Under the new system, citizens will not need to visit the Ministry of Foreign Affairs offices again and again for verification of documents. After receiving the application, documents will be scrutinized and verified, after which the applicant will be informed.
After completion of verification of documents, citizens have also been provided with the facility to deposit fee online. After payment of fee, e-certificate will be issued to the applicant via email.
This initiative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will save time and effort of citizens, while it will also help make the process of document verification faster and easier. Through the digital system, citizens are also expected to get rid of queues and long waiting times.
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